Real Housewives Of Atlanta Alum Phaedra Parks Discusses Directing Rayshard Brooks’ Funeral

After the funeral, Phaedra and Rayshard’s wife went to the location where he was killed. Phaedra shared, “She requested that we take her to the Wendy’s where the incident occurred and I rode with her in the car. And we had such a very poignant conversation about this moment in time.”

Phaedra revealed, “She said to me, ‘I never knew that I would be in this place.’ And I turned to her and said that, ‘This place is a place of purpose. A place of power. Because you’re now the face of an entirely new movement within the movement.’”

The former Housewife continued, “She said, ‘He had always talked about being well known and doing things that would change the world,’ And I said, ‘Sometimes we don’t reach true fruition unfortunately until we have left the world.’” Phaedra told the widow, “George Floyd started the movement. Rayshard added ember to the flame to make it even bigger.”

She shared, “We took the casket and the flower cart and the entire family around the drive through — the same place where fatal shots were fired.”

Phaedra explained, “To be there with his beautiful [children]… to feel the power, the energy of them being able to release the hurt that they had from that tragic incident, it was very moving to me as a person of color.”

She explained, “As a mother, you know, it just gave me a whole new sense of purpose. Because we have to propel this movement. We have to have this conversation. We have to change policy, procedures, laws. We have to make sure that there is equality for everyone.”

It’s truly tragic that Rayshard lost his life, especially in the way that he did, but it is nice to see that his family has so much support during this very difficult time period.