10 Things You Didn’t Know About Michael Brown, According To Family And Friends
source: AP Images
His Passing Would Inspire Black Mizzou Students to Make Their Voices Heard
At my alma mater, the University of Missouri-Columbia, there had been quite a few racist incidents leading up to the protests that took place last year. But what really may have spurred those demonstrations (particularly efforts to get Tim Wolfe, former president of the University of Missouri system, to resign), ones that would go on to inspire students of all backgrounds to stand up at PWIs around the country, was Michael’s death. Mizzou students would travel to Ferguson to protest, do die-in protests on campus, and once they spoke out against Wolfe, we know Black members of the football team, “touched by the upheaval in Ferguson,” made the biggest impact by saying they wouldn’t play until Wolfe was gone.
“The biggest point of anger last year was that, when Ferguson occurred, prior to us even starting classes, our administration was silent,” Brenda Smith-Lezama, Mizzou’s former student body vice president told The Washington Post last year. “There has not been a time since Ferguson that activism hasn’t been at the forefront of our university. It never stopped after Ferguson.”
