MILWAUKEE, Wis. — On Thursday, dozens of Milwaukee community members, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, gathered at the Holy Redeemer Institutional Church Of God In Christ to remember the life of D’Vontaye Mitchell.
Mitchell died on June 30th after being pinned to the ground by security guards at the Hyatt Regency.
Mitchell’s funeral service started with an open casket visitation for friends and family and was followed by statements from his loved ones as they said their final goodbyes.
“I am just saying, I am going to miss my brother. I am going to miss him, everything about him,” said Mitchell’s sister.
Rev. Al Sharpton traveled from New York to attend Mitchell’s funeral. He delivered a eulogy, demanding justice be served and announced he will be donating money to Mitchell’s family for what they are going through.
“If I can come and give ten thousand dollars to these kids, then Hyatt needs to come up with a whole lot more than that,” said Sharpton.
Rev. Sharpton said Mitchell’s death had close comparisons to George Floyd’s death.
“I thought after George Floyd, and we fought until three cops went to jail, I thought you all learned you can’t put your knee on our necks,” said Sharpton.
On Thursday, several employees involved in Mitchell's death were fired by the company that manages the hotel.
Mitchell’s mother, Brenda Giles said she was happy to hear employees were fired in connection to Mitchell’s death but she said the fight is not over.
“We are going to fight and we are going to fight and we're going to fight,” said Giles. “ We have to do this, and we want the community to stay behind this and were going to do this.”
Mitchell’s family hired civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represented Floyd’s family and has been in Milwaukee this week advocating for them.
Crump said he called Sharpton asking him to come to Mitchell’s funeral and he promise to fight for justice for D’Vontaye’s family.
“We are going to help all of your families because when they kick him and they punch him and beat him with this metal baton, it was like they was beating us all,” said Crump.