Photos: Community, family gather to mourn Daunte Wright
Hundreds of people wearing COVID-19 masks packed into Shiloh Temple International Ministries to remember Wright, a 20-year-old father of one who was shot by a white police officer on April 11 in the small city of Brooklyn Center.
“My son had a smile that was worth a million dollars,” Katie Wright, Daunte Wright’s mother, told mourners through tears Thursday during the church service. “He was a brother, a jokester, and he was loved by so many. He's going to be so missed.”
Wright was not “just some kid with an air freshener,” but a “prince” whose life ended too soon at the hands of police, the Rev. Al Sharpton said Thursday during an emotional funeral.
“The absence of justice is the absence of peace,” Sharpton said. “You can’t tell us to shut up and suffer. We must speak up when there is an injustice.”
Gov. Tim Walz ordered two minutes of silence statewide earlier in the day to honor Daunte Wright’s memory “and remember that every person whose life has been cut short due to systemic racism and discrimination will not be forgotten.”
Reading a proclamation, he told mourners that America and Minnesota can’t rest “until we create a different future for Daunte Wright’s son and every other child like him.”
Correction (April 23, 2021): Arbuey Wright’s name was misspelled in a caption in an earlier version of this story. The caption has been updated.
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.