Rev. Sharpton: Death of 7-Year-Old Girl Is Wake-up Call

DETROIT – Reverend Al Sharpton called for an end to violence in Detroit on Saturday, May 22, while delivering the eulogy at the funeral of 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones who was tragicallly killed by a Detroit police officer during a raid on the girl’s home. During his remarks at Second Ebenezer Baptist church on Detroit’s east side, Sharpton said that he was disgusted by the chain of events that had transpired, culminating in the girls’ death. “We’re here today for something that should not be. We’re here today not to find blame, but to find out how we never have to come here again,” he proclaimed to a host of ministers, government officials and hundreds of residents who turned out to support the Stanley-Jones family and express their discontent with police’s conduct in the city.

Detroit’s sharp spike in violent crime has been earmarked by a series of sensational murders over the past few weeks. Stanley-Jones, who was asleep in her home, was struck by a police officer’s bullet when the gun mistakenly discharged during a struggle with the girl’s grandmother. Police used a flash grenade and raided the two-family home in search of a murder suspect who allegedly shot and killed a 17-year-old boy earlier in the week. Sharpton questioned the use of the flash grenade saying that the tactic might not have been used in upscale neighborhoods. “Would you have gone in Bloomfield Hills and do what you did? … Have you ever heard of putting on a light and calling people to come out of the building? Have you ever heard of a warning?” Sharpton asked directing his comments to police and city officials who were not visibly present.

The camera and production crew of the popular “The First 48” television reality crime investigations show reportedly captured the raid on tape as they have been in Detroit for several months shadowing homicide investigators on an almost daily basis. Police department detractors are charging that police officers’ actions may have been colored by the presence of television cameras and they may have ignored protocol for senationalism and ratings.

The outspoken advocate also advised citizens to partner with law enforcement rather than work at odds and engage in counter productive and potentially dangerous behavior. “I’m disgusted that we can’t see the police as our partners, rather than act like it’s us against them, instead of it’s all of us against the crime. I’m disgusted when cheap politicians won’t do their jobs … so accidents like this won’t happen going forward. I’m disgusted when I look at a seven-year-old baby in a casket,” admonished Sharpton. 

Prior to Rev. Sharpton’s arrival at the church, a Detroit reporter tweeted that he was disgusted that Rev. Sharpton had been asked to deliver the eulogy.

On May 3, a Detroit police officer was shot and killed in a gun battle at a suspected drug house that left four other officers wounded. Sharpton warned about the dangers of what he called “a cycle of pain, a cycle of violence. “We can’t give up, we have no choice, but to turn this city around,” added Sharpton. –roz edward