Michael Brown was a fixer and creator. Growing up in Missouri, he split his time between is mom, his dad, and his grandmother. He was a big kid – 18 years old and 6 foot 4 – which he used to his advantage: a simple solid shove from him was enough to diffuse most trouble. He had a knack for technology, which he channeled into producing rap songs with his friends under the handle “Big Mike” and fixing malfunctioning machinery for his family. A recent high-school graduate, Michael decided to turn that mechanical aptitude into a career, enrolling in trade school for AC repair.
Michael Brown was murdered by police on August 9, 2014, for jaywalking. He and a friend were walking in the middle of a street in Ferguson when a cop pulled up and ordered them off the road. The cop pulled away, but then reversed and blocked the street in front of them (he would later claim he thought Michael was a shoplifting suspect). The cop pushed open the door into Michael and Michael pushed the door back. Michael reached through the window of car, and in a struggle with the cop, was shot in the hand. The two kids fled, pursued by the cop on foot. When Michael turned around, he was shot 6 times, twice in the head. Cops left his body in the street for 4 hours. Protests erupted the following day, which the police put down with tanks and military weapons. No charges were filed against the cop.
Black lives matter.
