NEW YORK, August 29 (RIA Novosti) – Protests this weekend against the police killing of unarmed black teen Michael Brown will call for an end to police brutality in the US, civil rights campaigner Salim Adofo told RIA Novosti on Friday.
"Washington residents recognize that at the root of Ferguson’s problems are social, racial and economic injustices that exist nationwide. Ferguson could really be anywhere and Michael Brown could be any young black man," said Adofo, spokesperson for the National Black United Front.
"The murder of Michael Brown and the situation in Ferguson can and should be a turning point. Where we finally come to terms with the root causes of these issues and address social deprivation and oppression and the police brutality that comes with it."
Protestors will rally in Washington on Saturday to secure justice in Brown’s killing. Adofo cited a study which found that one African-American person is killed by law enforcers or vigilantes every 28 hours in the US with "almost complete impunity for the perpetrators".
Ferguson, a suburb of St Louis of some 21,000 residents, has been shaken by protests since Brown was shot, killed and left uncovered, bleeding on the tarmac in view of increasingly-upset friends and relatives on August 9.
A grand jury of three African-American people and nine Caucasians is hearing evidence about Brown’s shooting and is expected to decide whether to charge lawman Darren Wilson by mid-October. The inquiry hinges on whether Wilson, 28, fired in self-defense.
