The grieving paused Friday in front of Sterling’s open casket, which was adorned with music notes and a smiling photo of the man. Sterling was selling CDs outside the store, as he had done for years, when he was killed by police responding to a call of a man threatening someone with a gun.
One mourner wore a T-shirt that said “No Justice, No Peace” on the back of it. Another carried a poster board sign saying: “Black America I’m Sorry!!”
Among the mourners was Darrell Jupiter, a landscaper and close friend of Sterling’s who came to the visitation inside the basketball arena at Southern University, a historically Black college in north Baton Rouge.
“I just got my appetite back,” said Jupiter, who had a tattoo on his arm with the words “RIP Alton.” ”My best friend is gone. I have a big chunk missing. I’m lost.”
He said he spent lots of time fishing and playing chess with Sterling, whose nickname was “Dweeb.”
He said Sterling had begun to turn his CD selling into a steady way of making a living. He had set aside enough money to buy himself a car, Jupiter said.
Albert Carter, Sterling’s 44-year-old half-brother, wore a tie with a grinning Alton on it. He said he hopes Sterling’s death prompts police reform in Baton Rouge.
“We have a lot of terrible police out here,” he said. “They harass.”
He complained that at last weekend’s protests a police officer pointed a gun at him and other protesters.
Sterling’s funeral started with a gospel choir singing hymns, as many in the crowd of a couple thousand joined in.
Gary Chambers, a spokesman for the Sterling family and master of ceremonies for the funeral, said at the beginning that the event was intended to be a celebration of Sterling’s life — not an opportunity for demonstrations about his death.
“If you want to protest please leave now,” he told the crowd, which included two senior advisers to President Barack Obama.
___Associated Press reporters Michael Kunzelman in Baton Rouge and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.
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