By Genoa Barrow | OBSERVER Senior Staff Writer
In March 2018, thousands of students across the country walked out of their classrooms in the name of an unarmed Sacramento father killed by local police officers. Six years later, young people walked for a different reason – their graduation from an area school named after him.
Stephon A. Clark College Prep Middle School’s first commencement was held June 13 at American River College. The Fortune School campus named for Clark is located yards from where he was fatally shot in his grandmother Sequita Thompson’s backyard after being chased there by officers.
To demonstrate for students what the pursuit of higher education looks like, leaders wear full regalia to Fortune School commencement ceremonies. Stevante Clark is shown here with Dr. Akele Newton, principal of Rex & Margaret Fortune Early College High School and Fortune Middle School. Courtesy: Clark/Thompson family
The evening ceremony was emotional for Thompson, who attended with two of her surviving grandsons, Stevante and Jhai’Len Clark, and son Curtis Gordon.
“It was beautiful,” Thompson said. “It brought tears to my eyes.”
Her cries now are vastly different from the gut-wrenching sobs the world saw as the family matriarch grieved the loss of her beloved grandson before the national public’s eye. The officers who killed Clark were never charged and returned to policing the community. Since Stephon Clark’s death, his family has vowed to keep his name alive and do so through a nonprofit, the I Am SAC Foundation. They now advocate for law enforcement accountability for their family and others impacted by police violence. Several families who have lost loved ones were in attendance at the graduation, invited by Clark’s mother, Sequette Clark, who now lives out of state and watched virtually.
“I felt proud, she said. “It was a bittersweet moment because Stephon should be here, but having a school named after your child is timeless.”
It was “Mama Clark” who Fortune School co-founder Dr. Margaret Fortune addressed in announcing the new school in 2021.
“In the culture we say, in reference to unarmed Black people who have been gunned down by the police, ‘Say their names.’ Sequette, with the founding of a school in his honor, we will say Stephon Clark’s name every day.”
“His name, his memory truly will live on for generations,” Sequette Clark added.
Stephon A. Clark College Prep opened in 2022, educating sixth-graders including its namesake’s younger sister, Cailyn, and has grown a grade annually to now serve sixth-through-eighth grades.
Dr. Fortune says naming a school after Clark is part of “turning tragedy to triumph.”