Sacramento mayor calls for another night of curfew, and continued National Guard
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said Tuesday morning he was relieved by what turned out to be a relatively peaceful night downtown Monday, but will recommend today that the city keep its 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew in place and said he expects National Guard troops to remain on duty.
“It’s appropriate to be cautious,” the mayor said after the first night since Thursday that protests against police brutality did not have nearby melees, burglaries and window-smashing downtown. “It needs to be assessed day by day. It’s a day-to-day decision.”
The Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd on Memorial Day prompted large protests in cities nationally. Those protests have sometimes had nearby groups of people damaging properties and stealing from businesses.
On Monday night, a large protest in Sacramento ended peacefully. A police car had a window broken. Police arrested at least 48 people downtown for violation of the curfew. Other than that, downtown businesses report the city came through unscathed.
The curfew, apparently a first in modern history for Sacramento, was imposed by the city Monday in hopes of giving police more leverage on downtown streets at night against vandals.
City officials on Tuesday said they did not know if there would be continued protests on Tuesday night, but intend to be prepared.
Steinberg expressed gratitude as well toward Stevante Clark, who led a peaceful protest group of about 700 through city streets for a few hours last night. Clark burst into the city’s public consciousness two years ago when, days after his brother Stephon was killed by police, he stormed a City Council meeting, jumped onto the council dais, and told the mayor to shut up.
On Monday night, with a bullhorn, Clark repeatedly insisted protesters keep it calm.
“This young man did an incredible job last night,” Steinberg said. “He is a complex young man. He has some unique leadership qualities. They are qualities born out of lived experience.”
Steinberg went out to an impromptu memorial in Cesar E. Chavez Plaza for George Floyd on Monday and laid some flowers and took a knee. He posted the moment on Twitter.
It was a political statement, he said. Even though he led the council in recommending the curfew, he said he has worked to internalize for himself the experience African-Americans and others have had in this country, and in Sacramento.
“It says I stand in solidarity with all others who have taken the knee, the thousands of peaceful protesters who are insisting that we must change,” he said. “Like many people, when I watched that George Floyd video, it is sickening. It reminds me of the history that African-Americans have too often dealt with in our country and in our community, the discrimination, the prejudice, the systemic racism.”
This story was originally published June 2, 2020 at 9:54 AM.