‘Outside agitators.’ Sacramento activists critical of violence after George Floyd protest

The demonstrations in Sacramento on Saturday voicing anger over the police killing of George Floyd were largely controlled. There were several tense moments, as some protesters threw water bottles at police and officers swinging batons pushed a crowd back from entering a freeway in West Sacramento.

But leaders of the marches sought to keep order, at one point in the afternoon telling a crowd gathered outside Golden 1 Center not to leave trash on the ground.

After the sun went down, things changed. A group tried to break into the Main Jail downtown. Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputies and Sacramento police officers responded by firing rubber bullets and tear gas into the crowd, and at least two people were struck — a young person was struck in the eye, according to videos from the scene, and a National Lawyers Guild photographer was hit in the head with a rubber bullet.

A group that appeared to number in the dozens then lit fire to a couch. It moved onto the Macy’s store at Downtown Commons, breaking through the windows and stealing goods from the store. Several other stores were broken into in downtown and midtown before police finally broke the crowd up after 2 a.m.

So who was that group? Some in the crowd wore black clothing and face coverings, the hallmarks of the antifa movement.

They ‘aren’t from here’

Some Sacramento activists and Mayor Darrell Steinberg suspect the group responsible for the theft and property damage were “outside agitators” who were not part of the larger network of demonstrators.

“A lot of these people aren’t from here. They’re outside agitators and we’re left with the stain. People are coming from other places and tearing (things) up. A lot of what happened came from people from the outside,” Sacramento activist Jamilia Land said Sunday.

Sequita Thompson, the grandmother of Stephon Clark, an unarmed black man shot and killed by Sacramento police in 2018, said “tearing up and breaking up buildings” is not the way to stand up for “Stephon Clark and all those who have been killed.”

“I don’t think that’s right for us to be doing things like that ... destroying property,” Thompson said. “I didn’t think Sacramento would go that far.”

She said she understands the anguish and pain protesters are feeling, but she feels the demonstrations should be peaceful. She said protesters should fight for justice but stay in a line away from police, avoiding close confrontations with police that can lead to violence or arrests.

“It’s not worth it to get hurt. We’ve already been hurt.” Thompson said. “I don’t like violence. I like a peaceful protest.”

Stevante Clark, Stephon Clark’s brother, addressed a crowd of roughly 800 people at a Sunday afternoon vigil in Cesar Chavez Plaza. Following his address, Clark said in an interview that “what happened (Saturday night with looting), that was not the protesters. When you see the looting, you didn’t see any ‘no justice, no peace signs.’”

“I don’t think the people out here are going to go to Walmart and Target (to damage property),” Clark said. “It’s very peaceful. We’re all out here in solidarity, you see white, black, Latino, Asian people. It’s everybody out here together. When people say it was protesters looting, that’s a false narrative. That’s a very false narrative.”

Pastor Tecoy Porter at Genesis Church, said protest is a powerful expression.

“A couple of things go along with these protests – we support people’s right to protest, that’s the behavior of America – to get things done, we protest,” he said. “It’s learned behavior, from the Boston Tea Party to the Million Man March. We march. The bad comes when we allow a minority of protesters to come with a different purpose – to take advantage of chaos.”

‘We’ve heard all kinds of things’

Sonia Lewis, of the Liberation For Black Sacramento and Decarcerate Sacramento, said young people were protesting peacefully Saturday during the day. Expressing their anger and sadness about “continuous murder” by police and their form of expression “is welcomed and wanted.” She also said young people are the best equipped to demonstrate against the inequality in society and create long-lasting change.

Lewis characterized what happened overnight as “lack of organization” among those who continued to demonstrate. She said that type of “disorganized chaos” can be fruitful when trying to send a message to a capitalist system that continues “looting and rioting” from communities, especially when residents can’t afford increasing rent.

“That’s looting, too,” Lewis said. “We cannot punish and shame the have-nots.”

Steinberg said the police are trying to track down and arrest those who damaged the businesses. He said he suspects some could be from outside Sacramento.

“I don’t know,” Steinberg said, when asked about outside provocateurs. “We’ve heard all kinds of things – word that some of this is organized from outside Sacramento.”

He said he recognizes the emotions many feel about the police killing of Floyd last week but “small businesses here are not what caused the nation’s anguish.”

This story was originally published May 31, 2020 at 2:37 PM.