Crowds gathers outside Rayshard Brooks' funeral to watch
ATLANTA - Dozens of people who were not able to get inside Ebenezer Baptist Church watched the funeral service for Rayshard Brooks on a jumbotron outside.
People sold T-shirts and hats and gathered with their children outside the church that was the church home of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Due to COVID-19, only 200 guests were allowed inside the sanctuary, which was marked for social distancing. Notable guests included Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Former Mayor Kasim Reed, Rev. Bernice King, former Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, Georgia Senatorial candidate Jon Ossoff, rapper/actor/activist T.I. and his wife Tiny.
Singers Kelly Price, Yolanda Adams, Pastor Smokie Norful, actress/singer Tamela Mann, Kurt Carr, and singers all provided songs of comfort.
Shanderay Aitkens traveled to Atlanta from Louisiana to pay her respects to the family of Rayshard Brooks. She was not able to attend the invitation-only funeral but said sitting in the sanctuary didn't matter.
"I have a local magazine in the town where I live called Homer, Louisiana and I spend a lot of time trying to express the feelings of black people and I thought it was important to be here," Shanderay Aitkens of Louisiana remarked.
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Mourners continue to connect Brooks with Minneapolis resident George Floyd who was also killed at the hands of police.
"I just thought it was important, being a blogger and a young black man. I covered the George Floyd services and I think it is just a visceral time in our country," Blogger William McCrae III commented.
Attorneys for the Brooks family held a news conference after the funeral questioning where all the unity has gone.
"We watched the police officers frustrated this week and some even in tears, feeling like they are being prosecuted. It made me hope they could finally understand how African Americans have been feeling for so long," complained Brooks family Attorney Chris Stewart.
The Brooks family wants unity restored to our community.
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