Lovelle Mixon's Funeral - March 31, 2009

Funeral for Lovel Mixon - Monday, March 31, 2009

I left my job in downtown Oakland and arrived at the funeral home on International near High St. a little after 11:30 am. There was standing room only and I would estimate that there were about 400 people paying their last respects, as the seating capacity was posted as 303.

The mood was not as somber as I was expecting although the casket was open the whole time I was there during the services. According to the obituary, which was a very nicely done full size, full color program, Lovell was one of 12 children by both his father and mother. Little did we know that he was a certified plumber and had worked as a custodian. He was married to his "puppy love" sweetheart and was a father. All the loving sentiments that only family can speak on were in the obituary.

There were many ministers who spoke and even many more clergy who were in attendance and were asked at one point to stand to be recognized. Min. Keith Muhammad was the first of many to speak and spoke on the psalms of David and brought up that Lovell Mixon did walk through the valley of death in these streets, but he feared no evil.
All the ministers had kind and loving words to offer the family, a couple spoke kindly about the police and that did not sit too well with some people in attendance, including a very well dressed middle age man standing behind me who could not believe it when a minister said we should call the police when we need them.

One minister even said that God used Lovell Mixon to bring us all together.

Many of the ministers were trying to reach out to young people by offering them counseling and other support services. One minister who also worked for the city of Oakland with recovery and re-entry type services spoke to the people in a real hip kind of way that people could tell was genuine.

Another minister asked everyone to hug the person next to them and tell them "I love you," which everyone did and that truly lightened the mood and he reminded folks that you can’t just say things to people you have to touch them. He also asked all the saved women to go up and give Lovell’s wife a kiss and tell her you love her and give her support.

Around 12:30 I had to leave and go back to work. I did observe that there were no police (visibly) around and no TV news trucks or vans. There may have been one print media person there who was very low key.

Before attending the funeral, I learned that the street memorials for the cops as well as for Mixon had been removed. The one for the cops had supposedly been burned. So I decided to do a little investigation of my own and drove over to MacArthur Blvd. I did not see the memorial for the cops. When I drove down 74th to see the memorial in front of the apartment where the final shoot out occurred, parked on the left was an unmarked police car, on the right side of the street directly in front of the apartment building, a green "Crime Investigation Unit" van was parked and posted up in the front doorway of the apartment building was a big uniformed cop. I did not notice the memorial to Lovell, however, since there was such a big police presence my "investigation" was cut short and so I ‘m not absolutely sure that the handwriting on the wall was there still. And I mean that literally, but you can take it figuratively if you want.

by Sista T