Earlier in the day, hundreds of people packed the Greater Grace Church for a rally attended by Michael Brown’s parents. Brown’s cousin Ty Pruitt addressed the crowd. Ty Pruitt: He was not an animal. But that’s how he was killed. This [puts hands in the air, audience says, Hands up, dont shoot!] was the last actions that our family member made before he went to rest. This [puts hands in the air] will be stuck in my familys memories for the rest of our lives. Community outrage grew over the weekend after the Ferguson police named the officer who shot Brown, Darren Wilson, after withholding his identity for five days. But in naming Wilson, the police also released video footage showing a young man who appeared to be Michael Brown shoplifting a box of cigarillos from a convenience store. The Ferguson police released the video while continuing to withhold all other details about Brown’s killing, including how many times he was shot and the incident report from the shooting. In disclosing the video, the police appeared to suggest Brown may have been stopped as a suspect in the shoplifting. But hours later, Ferguson police admitted the officer did not know about the incident and had stopped Brown solely for walking in the middle of the street. On Sunday, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon said he opposed the video’s release. Gov. Jay Nixon: We in our security team and the Highway Patrol did not know that was going to be released. I don’t think the attorney general knew that. And quite frankly, we disagree deeply, I think, for two reasons. Number one, to attempt to, in essence, disparage the character of this victim in the middle of a process like this is not right. It’s just not right. And secondarily, it did put the community and, quite frankly, the region and the nation on alert again. These are old wounds. These are deep wounds in these communities, and that action was not helpful. -Democracy Now!
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 00:12:49 +0000
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