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Tense Interview With Stephon Clark's Brother And Don Lemon Sparks Debate On Grief And Exploitation

Meanwhile, the White House refuses to call police killing unarmed Black men a national issue.

During an interview on CNN that some found uncomfortable to watch, Stephon Clark’s brother, Stevante Clark, clashed with host Don Lemon.

The older brother of Stephon appeared filled with emotion and pushed back against Lemon’s questions, sometimes not answering them at all.

“How are you holding up right now?” Lemon asked Stevante at the start of the Wednesday night interview. In response, Stevante rang a bell and said, “next question.”

  • “Obvious, you are in grief,” Lemon said.

    “I am not in grief. [My family] haven’t slept. We haven’t ate. The media keeps following us everywhere we go. The only person that got the message, and that just before we came on the air, was the mayor. He told me he’s going to help us build the library and the recreational center [in Stephon’s memory.]” Stevante said as his voice began to crack.

    “I love my city. I’m SAC strong…what the media does, they wait for a love one dies, they find out it’s a tragedy, they swarm that person, they put them in grief. They ruin their lives forever,” he added. “Their lives are never the same.”

    Eventually Stevante demanded that Don say his brother’s name, which prompted the frustrated anchor to cut the interview short.

  • Although the interview seemingly went off the rails, many called out the media for using their subject's grief for ratings and getting upset when the interview doesn't go as planned

  • While others felt Stevante was too grief-stricken to be on air and Lemon did him a favor

  • As the shooting of Stephon Clark and subsequent protests make headline in the news, the Trump administration refuses to call it a national issue

    When White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked for President Trump's response to the recent shooting of Stephon Clark, who was unarmed, Sanders said that, while it was "certainly a terrible incident," it was "a local matter."

  • Sanders continued to say the shooting of unarmed Black men by police should only be dealt with on a local level

  • When questioned if "the president should show leadership" in the issue of Black deaths at the hands of police, Sanders danced around the question

    "We want to find ways to bring the country together," Sanders said. "But when it comes to the authority on the rulings that have taken place in the last few days, those are things that have to be done at a local level. They are not federal decisions at this time."

    When Sanders was asked if the president feels "like he needs to do something" about Black mothers who fear for their sons' lives, she said:

    "I think we should do every single thing we can every day to protect the people of this country — whether they're Black, white, Hispanic, male or female, rich or poor — we look for ways to protect the individuals in this country, particularly children."

  • Sanders' refusal to call Clark's shooting a national issue outraged people on Twitter

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