Michael Brown, a black 18 year-old, was killed on 9 August by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.
Brown was unarmed, making his way to his grandma’s house with a friend when, according to witnesses, a police vehicle pulled over and tried to drag him into the car.
Brown ran away and was shot. He then raised his arms to prove he had no weapon and was shot twice more.
The police on the other hand state that there was a “scuffle” which led to Brown assaulting a police officer, causing him to be shot “multiple times”.
Tensions between the police and the local community rose during the following days. The city of Ferguson has a population of 120 000, around two thirds of which are black.
Hundreds of people entered the streets to protest at what had happened. At its height on Saturday, local police called for 60 other units to “settle the crowd”, who were chanting phrases such as “kill the police”.
On Sunday, it was reported that the protests had turned to riots, with shops being looted and windows and cars being destroyed.
When contrasted with the many white men who have committed massacres and shot themselves before they have been shot by police, it isn’t hard to see how bad institutionalised racism is in the US police.
Brown’s family have retained the services of civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who represented Trayvon Martin’s family, a young black man who was shot and killed in 2012 by George Zimmerman, who claimed self-defence.
