It was standing room only inside Greater Grace Church, at 3690 Pershall Rd. in Ferguson, Missouri. Hundreds gathered at the church Sunday to support family and friends of 18-year-old Michael Brown Jr. The unarmed black teenager was shot and killed by Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson police officer, at the Canfield Green Apartment Complex on Aug. 9.
“We’re here to talk about justice,” Florida attorney Benjamin L. Crump said at the Justice for Michael Brown Community Rally. “We’re here to talk about standing up for our children.”
Crump represented the family of 17-year-old shooting victim Trayvon Martin and is now representing Brown’s family along with local co-counsel Anthony Gray.
Local and national media crammed against the back and side walls of the church along with members of law enforcement. Martin Luther King III, actress KeKe Palmer, Judge Greg Mathis were also in attendance.
Those unable to get inside the packed church chanted, “No justice! No peace!”
Crump said nothing justified the “execution-style” killing of Michael Brown Jr. in broad daylight by Wilson, an act that has sparked national and international outrage. Ultimately, Crump said, autopsy results will reveal the truth. The New York Times reported on Sunday the results of a preliminary private autopsy conducted by Dr. Michael M. Baden, former chief medical examiner for the City of New York. His findings revealed that Brown was shot at least six times by Wilson, including twice in the head.
Brown was said to have had his hands in the air, the universal sign of surrender, when witnesses say Wilson kept shooting the victim. Crump advised the crowd not to be distracted by law enforcement’s attempt at character assassination, referring to the release of surveillance video by Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson on Friday.
“They tried it with Trayvon,” Crump said. “Now, they’re trying it with Michael.”
“Then you come out and say, “It had nothing to do with the shooting.’ Why did you put it out?” Sharpton said of the surveillance video.
The surveillance footage allegedly shows Brown “shoplifting,” not “robbing” Rev. Sharpton wanted to make clear, a convenience store shortly before his death.
“I don’t condone either,” he said. “But, you’re going to have to stretch it to have a smear campaign.”
The issue is not that he shoplifted, he said. The issue is how a young man with no deadly threat was shot multiple times, he said. The peace rally comes after another night of unrest after protesters defied a mandatory midnight – 5 a.m. curfew issued by Gov. Jay Nixon. One man was shot and taken to a local hospital with critical injuries. Rev. Sharpton said he understood the community’s anger, but said there was a difference between an “activist” and a “thug.”
“Don’t loot in Michael’s name,” Rev. Sharpton said.
Ty Pruitt, Michael Brown Jr.’s cousin, addressed the crowd on behalf of Brown’s family. Before Pruitt spoke, he held his hands upright.
“This was the last action that my family member made before he went to rest,” Pruitt said.
Michael Brown Jr.’s last action will be stuck in the family’s memories for the rest of their lives, he said. His cousin was not a suspect, an object nor an animal, he said. Michael Brown Jr. was a human being, he said. When Michael Brown Sr. and Lesley McSpadden—the parents of Michael Brown Jr. — approached the podium with Gray, they received a standing ovation. Michael Brown Jr. had every right as an American citizen to have due process of the law, Gray said.
“When I put my hands in the air,” Gray said, “you don’t decide to be judge, jury, and executioner.”
“Whether you look in Russia, the Middle East and Africa,” Sharpton said, “The debate is how the rights of people are dealt with by the state. Ferguson and Michael Brown Jr. will define how this country deals with policing and the rights of its citizens to redress how police behave in this country.”
Rev. Sharpton referred to what he described as the “pummeling” of Marlene Pinnock on a Los Angeles freeway by a California Highway Patrol officer. And the chokehold death of Eric Garner by a New York police officer for allegedly selling loose cigarettes.
Rev. Sharpton said, “We have had enough!”
Follow this reporter on Twitter: @BridjesONeil | E-mail this reporter: boneil@stlamerican.com
