‘We don’t get to forget’: Jamar Clark’s sister reflects on 10 years since his death
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
This weekend marks 10 years since the police killing of Jamar Clark. Clark was 24 years old and unarmed when Minneapolis police shot and killed him. The officers said Clark reached for one of their guns during a confrontation outside a party. Some witnesses disputed that Clark reached for the officer’s weapon. No officers were charged with a crime.
Clark’s death spurred protests and activism that has carried through the police killings of other Black men in Minnesota, Philando Castile in 2016 and George Floyd in 2020.
MPR News host Nina Moini talked to one of Clark’s sisters, Tiffany Burns, to reflect on the 10 years since her brother’s death, which changed Minnesota’s history and her family forever.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
Turn Up Your Support
MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all.
Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
The following was edited for length and clarity.
Can you share what stands out to you today about your brother’s life?
His laugh. You know his laugh is so unique, the way he was just always the life of the party. He always found ways to keep a smile on on our faces. He’s the youngest sibling of 10, so he would always do things like pranks and like anything that make us laugh. It’s his presence.
Could you share any reflections you have on this 10 year mark?
It doesn’t feel like 10 years. It does feel like it just happened. It seemed like time just kind of stopped when he was taken, especially the way he was taken, it still seemed so fresh.
Remembering getting that phone call in the middle of the night from my mom screaming, I will hold that. My God, I can never get the night out of my head. His presence is missed, his absence is known. We don't get to forget. We don't get to not live in that reality.
Activism has become a part of your life as well. What are your reflections on how that process has been for you?
Activism. That word. I don’t consider myself an activist. However, I am naturally drawn to the work, to prevent others from having the same fate as my brother. I’ve been hitting the ground running since this happened to my brother, but I feel it's an obligation of mine. To continue on in the fight to not have another family go through what our family went through.
Many people feel that your brother’s killing was really a turning point within Minneapolis. The Black Lives Matter movement was really growing. What stands out to you when you think of the last 10 years of police reform?
I just want to say this: Although I struggle with relations with law enforcement, I know that it’s possible for us to have the relationship and the safety that's needed surrounding law enforcement. It’s definitely going to take some work and togetherness and understanding and trust. The biggest piece for me is that trust.
Over time, I just have not seen what I need to see to say that anything’s changed.
Reform, to me, is law enforcement understanding how to engage and deescalate without fatality. My hope is, the culture around law enforcement and community would be a trusted one.
The training that they receive, I believe, needs to be reevaluated in a way where we’re all able to get home at night or get back home to our families after interaction with each other, because I think there’s a fear on both ends. So to me, not much has changed, but I see the efforts.
The number one tool that you have to use is your conversation. A lot of the times, police interaction comes off is very combative right away, like they have to assert authority right away. And a lot of the times, especially in situations where there are no weapons involved, that needs to be evaluated, because my brother was not armed.
A reporter asked my mom, “What would be justice for you?” and my mom simply said, for this not to happen again, for this not to happen to somebody else's mother, somebody else's child. And to have so many after my brother, it’s heartbreaking.
There’s also the work you’re doing in supporting other siblings like yourself. Can you share about that work?
I started Impacted Siblings Take Action a couple years ago. It’s a group of us that get together and really show up for each other. These are people who lost a sibling whether that be through police violence or community violence, oftentimes we’re forgotten about. We’re labeled as the forgotten mourners.
I want to disrupt that narrative that we’re forgotten. Our grief and our pain and our healing does matter. Oftentimes we have to be strong for parents and sometimes, deal with the loss of not only of our sibling, but also our parent, because those parents sometimes are just not the same after that.
We recently had our second annual Impacted Siblings United brunch, and we are working on some things, legislation-wise, to have permanent services for siblings and bring awareness to that loss. Making sure schools and recreation programs have staff and training to accommodate those youth and to try to bring some type of relief in that for them.
Is there anything you’re going to do to honor your brother this week?
Absolutely. We will be getting together at the University of Minnesota Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center. It’s a place about two blocks away from where he was killed.
We’ll get together with community there and share stories and we’ll also have an unveiling of his memorial bench that was just permanently installed this past week. So I’m super excited about that, and we worked so hard to make that happen. It’s a lot that goes into a lot of the things that we do to memorialize our loved ones, and this was one of them.
It was a challenge to get a memorial bench for him, right next to his tree, right next to the tree, where we go and just remember him. Sometimes I just go over there, just to be silent, and just to feel his presence.
I’m overwhelmed with emotions right now because it has been 10 years, and this is just a small token of something we can share with community. I know he would want that.
Correction (Nov. 13, 2025): An earlier version of this story misidentified Tiffany Burns. The story has been updated.
