Michael Brown’s parents Lesley McSpadden and Michael Brown Sr. remain on the mission to seek justice after their son’s untimely death at the hands of officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri earlier this year. While they’ve secured a voice on American platforms such as CNN and MSNBC, on behalf of their son, they’ve taken their cause internationally to deliver a 13-page oration to the United Nations Committee Against Torture in Geneva, Switzerland on “global intervention.”
Their message was written with the altruistic guidance of the non-profits HandsUpUnited, the Organization for Black Struggle and Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment. Its main purpose was to spread awareness on the need of worldwide support and action in ending the kind of hostility that led to Brown’s death, in executing arrests and proper punishments for perpetrators like Wilson, and even the “excessive use of force” by Ferguson police against “peaceful protesters” in their hometown.
McSpadden expressed to the audience: “We need the world to know what’s going on in Ferguson and we need justice. We need answers and we need action. And we have to bring it to the U.N. so they can expose it to the rest of the world, what’s going on in small town Ferguson.”
Mike Brown’s death sparked both peaceful and enraged national protests and debates on police brutality and racial profiling. It’s a conversation that’s been had too many times before with short-lived results of change, but with the murders of other young Black people like Jordan Davis, Travyon Martin, Renisha McBride and the senseless decision by a policeman to place Eric Garner in such a chokehold it would induce him into a heart attack, despair and anger have hit its threshold this year.
It’s been over two months since Brown was laid to rest on August 25 and his shooting made global headlines with shock, sadness and anger, especially in regard to Black lives being thrown away like garbage. Condolences aren’t enough when Wilson is still a free man. Brown’s parent’s travels to one of the most revered stages for harmony and humanity was an imperative move.
Because McSpadden and Brown’s speech wasn’t allowed to be recorded, we were able to get our hands on an excerpt of their statement:
Midday on August 9, 2014, Michael Brown, an 18 year-old black male, was walking down a small street in the middle of an apartment complex with a friend when they were approached by a white police officer. According to his friend, the closest witness to the afternoon’s events, the officer approached them in his SUV police vehicle, told them to “get the [expletive] off the sidewalk,” which then escalated into a confrontation.
After a struggle, the officer began to shoot the teen. Brown ran away, as he was hit by the officer’s bullets. The officer chased the teen on foot, and according to multiple witnesses, even after Michael Brown raised his hands to surrender and begged the officer not to shoot, the officer continued to fire. No witness reported any orders being given to Brown as these shots were fired.
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