By Umar Farooq
WASHINGTON (AA) – The mother of Michael Brown, the unarmed black teen who was fatally shot and killed by a white police officer in Missouri in 2014, announced her decision to run for city council on Friday.
Lezley McSpadden made the announcement to run for Ferguson's local government on the same spot where her son was killed — one day after the four year anniversary of his death. McSpadden said she had become “crippled ” and was full of emotion and had difficulty speaking about the death of her son.
“I learned to walk again, and this is one of my first steps, running for City Council 2019, ” McSpadden said at a news conference.
McSpadden had announced she had interest in running in April at a panel on police brutality at Harvard University.
She detailed an outline of her platform, which aimed at creating a community policing model, economic equality for all residents of the Ferguson and equal access to health care.
Her announcement comes days after St. Louis Prosecutor Bob McCulloch was ousted by voters in an upset defeat to councilman Wesley Bell. McCullough was in charge of the Brown case and decided not to charge the Darrin Wilson for the killing.
McSpadden responded to the criticism she may not be the most qualified person for the position by saying there was no other choice for her.
“If a mother had to watch her son lay in the street for four and a half hours, and watch a community be completely disrespected by elected officials, that we elected, what would you do?” McSpadden said.
Since the shooting, 3,471 people have been shot and killed by police from 2015 to 2018, according to a database by the Washington Post.
