On August 9, 2014, police officer Darren Wilson shoots and kills Michael Brown, an unarmed Black teenager, in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. In its wake, a community and nation mourns and reels as Black Lives Matters ignites.
Family and friends touch Michael Brown's casket before it is lowered into the ground.
Adrianne Vickers with her sons Harrison Vickers, 12, left, and Harold Vickers, 14. She feels her family is frequently followed by police and the last incidence occurred a week earlier at the local mall. "I am numb to how police treat you" Ms. Vickers says. She regularly teaches her sons ways to avoid police confrontations such as making sure their license is on the dashboard of their car (so they cannot be accused for reaching for a weapon).
The hearse carrying Michael Brown's casket at his funeral
Twenty-year-old mother Lawanda Harris is four months pregnant with twins. Ms. Harris cries as she recounts an incident with two white female officers who had responded to a fight that she was not involved in. The officers pushed her stomach-first against a vehicle, cuffed her, kicked the back of her legs and grabbed her face to force her to the ground while ignoring her pleas about her high-risk pregnancy. A sergeant eventually arrived, apologized and removed her cuffs.
Michael Brown's casket
Jeremiah Williams,23, has grown up Ferguson and currently lives a few blocks from where Michael Brown was shot and killed. Recently he was stopped and hand cuffed for jaywalking as he was walking his girlfriend home. He says police stop him approximately once a month and that he doesn't have a police record.
Roses are laid on Canfield Drive of Michael Brown where he was shot and killed.
Kevin Chism, 46 years old, is the deputy sheriff on medical leave in Illinois and grew up in Jennings which neighbors Ferguson. He became a police officer because of deeply affected by an incident with white police officers when he was a teenager. He became a police officer because his father told him “the best way to beat them is to join them.”
Michael Brown Senior mourns his son at the burial.
Sherise Penson 36, who is albino and her sister Monique Brown, 43, have been followed by police officers when they are together. They believe police have stopped them under suspicion of drug dealing when they are together because of their different skin colour. "In certain areas her being the colour that she is and me being the colour that I am, they stereotype a lot" says Brown about police officers.
Demonstrators before they disband for the evening.
Martez Davis, 14 wears a mask that is given out on the streets in preparation for tear gas. He and his teen friends were recently stopped by police and patted down at a fast food joint as they were getting soft drinks and he and his friends are not sure why.
Tommy Glenn was pulled over without explanation while driving with his African-American friends and one white female. He was asked to get out of the car and questioned about hiding drugs. He believes that he was pulled over for his skin color and the skin color of his friends.
Terry Martin, 45, is a former former military personnel of 28 years. He lives in an upper middle class neighbourhood where he fishes in his development complex. An incident left him angry three years ago when police officers asked for identification. Although he presented his military identification and driver license he was angered that they proceeded to ask his black friends for identification which he believes is to find out if they had outstanding warrants.
Trend Glass is from Chicago's Cabrini-Green housing projects. He travelled to Ferguson to be part of the ongoing protests because of his own encounters with officers at a young age.
Emotions run high as crows watch a man being cuffed by officers during one of the many regular nightly protests.
Lights glow on West Florissant Avenue as a few arrests are made during one of the nightly protests.