Michael Brown Sr. Tells SF: “Stand Strong and Fight.”

Posted in Education/Schools/Youth, Equal Rights/Equity, Ferguson/Black Lives Matter, Police-Public Safety

Mike Brown’s father speaks at Third Baptist Church and Mission High School

By Kia Croom and news reports

Nearly 800 community members and faith leaders packed into the pews of Third Baptist Church on Sunday to hear remarks from Mike Brown Sr. father of the 18-year-old who was shot and killed by Ferguson police officer, sparking a national movement against police impunity.

Speaking briefly, Brown expressed gratitude to people for their support.

“I’m tired. But I’ll sleep when it’s over. Enough is enough,” he said before taking his seat.

The audience applauded wildly. Cries and groans were heard throughout the sanctuary from community members overcome with grief and sorrow for all those who are bereaved by loved ones lost to gun violence.

Pastor Amos Brown of Third Baptist issued a “love offering” collecting donations, 100 percent of went to the Brown family for travel and other expenses.

Brown visited the church as part of a multi-faith, multi-racial assembly organized by Christian leaders and the Nation of Islam to denounce the excessive force perpetrated by police and resulting in the recent deaths of Brown, Eric Gartner and closer to home Oscar Grant. It ignited spirited discussions on the need for improved community-police relations in San Francisco and nationally.

“The police should be proportionately representative of the community that they police, and the image of the police needs to be changed,” said Pastor Brown.

“It is time this city listen to these speakers who have come today presenting a work plan to put San Francisco in therapy so that she may be made whole,” he said.

The program brought testimonies from mothers of males killed by gun violence. Mattie Scott, whose son George C. Scott was shot and killed in 1996, gave emotional address.

“This is a national health epidemic, and we need to do something about it. We shouldn’t have this many people standing because they’ve lost someone due to senseless gun violence,” she said.

Added District 10 Supervisor Malia Cohen, “To the protestors, thank you for being the disruption that you’ve been. Thank you for being the conscience we need.

On Monday evening, Brown Sr. met with hundreds of San Francisco high school students from across the city at Mission High School. .

Also speaking were Rev. Amos Brown and Cepheus Johnson, “ Uncle Bobby,” uncle of Oscar Grant III, who was shot and killed by police in Oakland at the Frutivale BART station on New Year’s Day 2009.

Mission High’s Black Student Union organized the event, which was not open to the public but rather meant for students as a means to support the family of Michael Brown and discuss race and society with other students from across the district.

Students who attended came from many schools including Mission, Balboa, Lincoln, Galileo, Burton, City College and San Francisco State University.