Ferguson marks one year since Michael Brown’s death
Hundreds take part in march
FERGUSON, MO. — One year after the shooting that cast greater scrutiny on how police interact with black communities, the father of slain 18-year-old Michael Brown led a march in Ferguson, Mo., on Sunday after a crowd of hundreds observed 4 ½ minutes of silence.
Those who gathered to commemorate Brown began their silence at 12:02 p.m., the time he was killed, for a length of time that symbolized the 4 ½ hours that the body of the young man lay in the street after his death.
Michael Brown Sr. held hands with others to lead the march, which started at the site where his unarmed son was fatally shot by Ferguson officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, 2014.
A grand jury and the U.S. Department of Justice declined to prosecute Wilson, who resigned in November, but the shooting touched off a national “Black Lives Matter” movement.
Pausing along the route at a permanent memorial for his son, Michael Brown Sr. said, “Miss you.”
He had thanked supporters before the march for not allowing what happened to his son to be “swept under the carpet.”
Later Sunday, a few hundred people went to Greater St. Mark Family Church for a ceremony to remember Brown, with his father joining other relatives sitting behind the pulpit.
Anthony Gray, one of the Brown family’s attorneys, said of the shooting, “You knew in your gut that it wasn’t right. And you knew what that officer did was unjustified.”
Michael Brown Sr. also led a parade involving several hundred people on Saturday. He said his family is still grieving, but he believes his son’s legacy can be seen in the increased awareness of police shootings.
The anniversary also sparked renewed protests, but the focus of the weekend was largely on Brown, who graduated from high school weeks before the shooting and planned to go to trade school to become a heating and air conditioning technician.
Relatives and friends described Brown as a quiet, gentle giant who stood around 6-foot-3 and weighed nearly 300 pounds. But police said Brown stole items from a convenience store and shoved the owner who tried to stop him on the morning of Aug. 9, 2014. Moments later, he and a friend were walking on Canfield Drive when Wilson, who is white, told them to move to the sidewalk.
Wilson claimed Brown came at him menacingly, leading to the fatal shooting. Some witnesses said Brown had his hands up in surrender. Federal officials concluded there was no evidence to disprove testimony by Wilson that he feared for his safety, nor was there reliable evidence that Brown had his hands up in surrender when he was shot.
Protests and unrest after the August shooting escalated in November after a St. Louis County grand jury determined that Wilson did nothing wrong. He resigned days later.