Funeral Service for Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson Held at Christian Cultural Center; Politicians Seek Comfort from Rev. A.R. Bernard After Loss of His ‘Spiritual Son’

Before the funeral for Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson began, some of the most powerful people in the city, state and country gathered upstairs for coffee in the Rev. A.R. Bernard’s private dining room at the Christian Cultural Center.

Many of them had gathered at the Brooklyn church before. But during previous meetings, they’d come to negotiate justice and peace or to talk to Bernard about faith and politics. None of them had come there before shell-shocked, as they were Saturday morning — some of them adversaries — brought together by shared grief. To a person, Thompson had touched each of them personally.

Among those in the private dining area were U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Gov. Cuomo, Mayor de Blasio and wife Chirlane McCray, Rep. Hakim Jeffries, Public Advocate Letitia James, City Controller Scott Stringer, City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, plus district attorneys from all over the city.

Marilyn Mosby, the state’s attorney for Baltimore, who brought charges against six officers in the death of Freddie Gray, was also there. She told me she was there because Thompson helped her to create Baltimore’s own version of his groundbreaking Conviction Review Unit.

They all came to honor Thompson to be comforted by Bernard, who was personally touched by the death of his spiritual son.

Bernard told me on Friday that he was concerned about what he’d say both at the funeral and also to his congregation, who on Sunday had prayed so hard for a miracle for Thompson.

“The deterioration of his body was very swift in the last few weeks, but he believed it would turn around,” Bernard told me. “He believed a miracle would happen.”

Click here to read more.

SOURCE: New York Daily News
Linda Stasi