Memorial Tree Planted for Anthony McClain at Sunday Ceremony

More than a hundred masked and socially distanced neighbors and community residents gathered on Raymond Avenue across from La Pintoresca Park Sunday for a “Hurt to Healing” tree planting ceremony in memory of Anthony McClain, who was killed by Pasadena police.

McClain was shot as he fled a traffic stop on Friday, August 15. 

Controversy has raged in Northwest Pasadena since the shooting, as some residents have held numerous protest marches and demonstrations. In addition, a number of candle and flower-laden memorials to McClain have been constructed at the Raymond Avenue site, only to be dismantled by City Public Works crews. 

Sunday’s city-sanctioned tree planting is seen by many in the community as a compromise. McClain’s family members have filed three lawsuits against the City and Police Department. 

Before the ceremony, McClain’s grandmother, Irene “Mimi” Bailey, and daughter Skilynn McClain, accompanied by McClain’s girlfriend, Beandra Williams,  applied paint to their hands and left fingerprints on a stone marker at the base of the wisteria tree.

As the audience—which included Mayor-Elect Victor Gordo and Councilmember Tyron Hampton—gathered at the current Raymond Avenue sidewalk memorial, now a simple circle of stones and a few candles, Reverend Kerwin Manning told them, “We have to mobilize in the spirit of love. Let the spirit of love fuel us into making a loving community heal.”

Manning also said that the Pasadena Police Department needs to be “trained to treat the residents of Northwest Pasadena as they do the residents of  Hastings Ranch, and the residents of Linda Vista, and the residents of Bungalow Heaven.”

“If we walk in love, we can still walk in justice,” added Manning.

Following a ceremonial extinguishing of the candles to  “allow for the healing to begin,” said Manning, the group slowly marched into La Pintoresca Park to gather at the tree. 

McClain’s friend, Walter Beasley, who was with McClain at the time of the incident, thanked the attendees and said, tearfully,  that he had dreamed of McClain’s death before it happened, and said, “then, to see it actually happen, really messed me up psychologically.”

Mayor-elect Gordo took a hopeful tone following the ceremony, and said, “The significance of today’s event is crystalized in the title of the event, ‘Hurt to Healing.’ It’s important for the family to have some closure, and have the opportunity to move from hurt to healing, as any other family would want to do, and deserves to do.”

“It’s important for the family to do that,” Gordo continued, “and for the people that supported them, the people who have been at the park every day, to have that same opportunity.”

Councilmember Tyron Hampton, who represents the district, echoed Gordo’s sentiments, but added, “Today doesn’t mean that we are going to forget Anthony McClain. I will never forget.”

Hampton added firmly, “Now, the community will be focusing on accountability, and that the officer who was out of policy, needs to be fired. We need to change our policies so that when things like this happen, we have more leeway…to protect life, versus jobs. That’s what the city needs to do, we need to protect life. This man was running, he was shot in the back twice, and whether he had a gun on him or not, that’s not typical training.”

At the close of the event, McClain’s grandmother, “Mimi,” who was using a walker, placed nearly a dozen roses at the tree’s base.