Mike Brown's dad, Ferguson activist ask for $20M from Black Lives Matter

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By Teddy Grant Published: March 5, 2021

Mike Brown’s dad, Ferguson activist ask for $20M from Black Lives Matter

FILE - In this Aug. 9, 2019, file photo, Cal Brown stands with her husband Michael Brown Sr. during a memorial program for Michael Brown Jr., fatally shot by a police officer, in Ferguson, Mo. A wave of police killings of young black men in 2014 prompted 24 states to quickly pass some type of law enforcement reform, but many declined to address the most glaring issue: police use of force. Six years later, only about a third of states have passed laws on the question. (Robert Cohen/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP, File)

By: Teddy Grant

The father of Mike Brown Jr. is asking the Black Lives Matter organization for $20 million to help fund work he and other activists do in Ferguson, Missouri, according to Yahoo.

Michael Brown Sr. and Tony Russell, a local community organizer who co-founded the International Black Freedom Alliance, said that they’re holding Black Lives Matter “accountable,” after reports that the organization received $90 million in donations following last summer’s social justice uprising in response to the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.

“The movement that has catapulted into the limelight has forgotten about Ferguson and the freedom fighters” Russell said in a video posted to Facebook on Thursday.

Ferguson was thrust in the spotlight in 2014 after police officer Darren Wilson fatally shot 18-year-old Mike Brown Jr. during a street confrontation. A grand jury declined to indict Wilson on charges for the shooting death of Mike Brown Jr. in November 2014.

Russell added that the organization has forgotten about the families of activists who have died since the uprising in Ferguson, such as Edward Crawford and Danye Jones.

“What kind of movement are we building where we are saying Black Lives Matter but the freedom fighters and the families are being left behind? ” Russell said. “Where is our restitution? Where is our organizing? Where is our building of a movement?”

Russell and Brown Sr. are demanding $20 million for Ferguson organizations and community foundations to have mutual aid programs, community gardens and forums, a stipend to aide in the fight against white supremacy and a national commemorative service for Mike Brown Jr., a request he said isn’t a handout, but what they deserve.