Michael Brown Killing in Ferguson Missouri Sparks Black Lives Matter Mobilization

Michael Brown, 18, was shot and killed by Ferguson, MO officer Darren Wilson on August 9, 2014. Brown was unarmed. His body lay in the street for 4.5 hours in the August heat. Protests erupted in Ferguson; police responded with militarized equipment including MRAPs, targeting journalists. A grand jury declined to indict Wilson in November 2014. A DOJ civil rights investigation found the Ferguson Police Department operated as a revenue-generating operation, systematically targeting Black residents with fines and fees; 85% of stops were of Black residents in a 67% Black city. The Ferguson uprising accelerated the Black Lives Matter movement.