Several hundred people gathered in Ferguson, Missouri, on Sunday to mark the anniversary of the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer that sparked protests and a national debate on race and justice.
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Hundreds gathered peacefully in Ferguson, Missouri at the site of Brown’s death, listening to speeches made by Michael Brown, Sr., Brown’s father, and other supporters.
According to the Associated Press, marchers took 4-1/2 minutes of silence to represent the roughly 4-1/2 hours Brown’s body laid in the street before a response team had the decency to remove it from the scene. Afterwards, Brown, Sr., and other family members, led a march through Ferguson.
Citing inherent conflicts of interest between local prosecutors and police, critics have advocated for more independent investigations (Michael Brown’s killer was not indicted, and neither were the New York officers whose choking and killing of Eric Garner was captured on videotape). “I think it’s fair to say that if, in my first term, Ferguson had flared up, as president of the United States, I would have been commenting on what was happening in Ferguson”.
The U.S. Justice Department and a St. Louis County grand jury cleared Wilson, who resigned in November, of wrongdoing.
“Folks are still angry and frustrated that even after a year, the police brutality against blacks and Latinos has gone up this past year, so people are angry”, protester said.
Some who marched in the Saturday parade wore T-shirts with likenesses of Brown or messages such as “Please stop killing us” or “Hands up!”
Yet another high-profile shooting occurred on Friday, when a Texas police officer fatally shot 19-year-old unarmed college football player Christian Taylor after he drove his vehicle through the front of a auto dealership.
This weekend’s rallies in Ferguson and elsewhere were largely peaceful affairs, with police maintaining a low-key presence, though protesters were being urged to carry out acts of civil disobedience after midnight on Sunday. Moments later, he and a friend were walking on Canfield Drive when Wilson, who is white, told them to move to the sidewalk. Some witnesses claimed Brown had his hands up in surrender.
The chief judge – brought in to reform the municipal court system after problems highlighted by the feds – will be retiring, by law, when he turns 75 in eight months.
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The Justice Department report found police were singling out African-Americans for arrests and ticketing, in part to raise revenue for the city.
