AFP, New York :Mourners heard a rallying cry for justice at the New York funeral of an unarmed black man shot dead by police as nationwide protests against similar killings continued for a fourth night.Akai Gurley, 28, father of a two-year-old daughter, was shot dead when a police officer opened fire in a dimly lit staircase at a Brooklyn apartment building where he was walking with his girlfriend late on November 20.Friends and relatives filed past Gurley’s open gray casket to pay their respects at the Brown Memorial Baptist Church, before the lid was closed and a huge spray of red and white flowers was placed on top of it.Gurley, whose mother lived in Florida, had been planning a surprise Thanksgiving trip to introduce her to his daughter last month when he was killed.Activist Kevin Powell, who delivered the eulogy, thanked Mayor Bill de Blasio and the city of New York for covering the costs of the funeral and issued a passionate rallying cry for change.”Akai was innocent, innocent, innocent,” he told the mourners. “This is modern-day lynchings, over and over again. Akai Gurley was simply the latest victim of this,” he said, calling for homicide charges to be brought.He demanded police reform and spoke of the recent protests that have mobilized thousands of people across the United States to denounce a spate of killings of unarmed black men by white police officers.”Let’s do everything we can to prevent any more situations like this,” he said.Rev. Clinton Miller echoed the call, saying that clergy and activists would work together to ensure that justice would prevail.”We ask that you would allow brother Akai’s name to live forever in our hearts as we continue to fight for what’s right in this country and this world,” he said. “We will all work together to pursue justice.”The Brooklyn district attorney announced Friday that a grand jury would consider charges in one of the cases that has again brought to the fore the distrust felt by many African Americans towards the police.
