A father of three that was remembered as someone who gave it his all while fighting the system was laid to rest Tuesday afternoon. However, this was not an average funeral.
Rayshard Brooks was 27 years old when he was gunned down Friday, June 12 at a Wendy’s drive-thru on 125 University Avenue by an Atlanta police officer.
Garrett Rolfe, the man who pulled the trigger, was fired and later was indicted eleven times, including a charge for felony murder. His partner, Devin Brosnan was charged three times, once for aggravated assault. He was placed on desk duty.
“Rayshard Brooks is the latest high profile casualty in the struggle for justice and a battle for the soul of America,” said Reverend Raphael G. Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church. “This is about him but it is so much bigger than him.
“A couple weeks ago a reporter asked me, ‘Pastor, what was like to stand in the pulpit of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King, Jr. stood and preach following the tragic and unnecessary killing of George Floyd.’ I said, ‘Well, it’s sort of like it was that Sunday I stood preaching in a hoodie following the killing of Trayvonn Martin. Then Michael Brown and 12 year old Tamir Rice playing on a playground. Oscar Grant, Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, Philando Castile, Laquan McDonald, Freddie Gray, Rekia Boyd, Natasha McKenna, Botham Jean, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery before George Floyd.'”
With history serving as a backdrop, everyone who had gathered in the sanctuary knew America had become far too comfortable with seeing Black people die at the hands of law enforcement. Most people wore white while others wore t-shirts that memorialized Brooks. Many attendees wore masks to protect themselves from COVID-19.
The Rev. Benice King, the daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., also offered words of comfort to the Brooks family.
“Rayshard Brooks’ life matters and he should have been able to live, to enjoy his family and watch his kids grow into adulthood,” King said. “And the officers should have gone home that night without blood on their hands.”
King also said it was troubling that Brooks was killed in a city that is home to “civil and human rights.”
“This happened in the city that has been known as the black mecca. This happened in the city whose grounds are known for America and the world warrior of peace, my daddy, Martin Luther King Jr., who taught us that true peace is not merely the absence of tension but it is the presence of justice. Therefore, there can be no peace in Atlanta nor anywhere in our nation where there is no justice.”
Additionally, King said that Brooks’ death took place on the same date that NAACP leader Medgar Evers was assassinated in Mississippi in 1963 and Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in prison in South Africa in 1964.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Stacey Abrams, the former top Democrat in the Georgia State House, both of whom are potential running mate picks for Joe Biden, were both in attendance.
As the funeral was taking place, Natalie White, Brooks’s girlfriend was charged with arson. White’s lawyer, Drew Findling, said his client was distraught over Brooks’ death but was “absolutely not responsible for the fire,” but says the blaze was underway when she was seen on video approaching the restaurant.
Meanwhile, Warnock, a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate, urged people to keep marching and raising their voices to challenge racism and fight for change.
“We demand police reform. We need police reform,” exclaimed Warnock. “God knows we do. But this is bigger than the police. Police brutality is as predictable as it is tragic. We will always have police brutality as long as we remain a nation committed to mass incarceration.
“Systemic racism is the framework. Mass incarceration is the beast,” he continued. “The escalation of encounters between police and citizens is a means through which the beast is fed. Some die a physical death on the streets. Others die a social death in custody. And even when they are released, they experience all the forms of discrimination against which Dr. King fought. Social Death!”
Those calls for change have indeed resonated throughout the country as Americans witnessed the death of George Floyd and others.
In an interview in February with Reconnect, a company that focuses on fighting incarceration, Brooks spoke candidly about his time spent in prison and his struggle to care for his family while on probation.
“I just feel like some of the system could, you know, look at us as individuals,” he said. “We do have lives, you know, was just a mistake we made, you know, and, you know, not, not just do us, as if we are animals. You know, lock us away.”
