Ferguson braces for protests on anniversary of Michael Brown shooting /Micahel Brown Sr. leads march in memory of his son on one year anniversary

Aug 12, 2015 Several demonstrators in Ferguson, Missouri took to the street on a commemoration rally one year after the police shooting of an unarmed black teen put the city in the international spotlight.

Civil rights activists, religious leaders and others from around the United States converged in the city to commemorate the life and death of 18-year-old Michael Brown and call for improved relations with police.

The event which was organized by Brown’s father, included marches, concerts and a moment of silence on the street where Brown was killed by Officer Darren Wilson on August 9, 2014.

In preparation for a potential face-off between demonstrators and police, a local church in Ferguson held a “de-escalation” training session

Brown’s death sparked months of angry protests both in Ferguson and around the United States, following subsequent police killings of unarmed black men in several other cities. The incidence also ignited the “Black Lives Matter” movement, which has brought to the spotlight the troubled relationship between police and African-American residents in many U.S. cities.

One year after Michael Brown’s demise, the “Chosen for Change foundation” founded by the Brown’s family organized a weekend of positive and peaceful events.

Michael Brown Sr, led 200 people to the scene where the 18-year-old black youth was fatally shot by a police officer and said:

“I hurt every day…People know what happened was just wrong and all they doing is just showing their respect and their love as for what has happened right here in this community.”

“I just want to get on the TV and let them know, I am not stopping. I am not stopping. Every time you turn on your TV, you are going to see my face so I am trying to make it uncomfortable for people to think that this is OK to do this to us,” Brown Snr added.

The killing set off local rioting and a national debate over race and police brutality, but the situation became even more aggravated when Officer Darren Wilson was cleared of all criminal charges in the shooting by a grand jury.