By Daryl Hannah
Sadness superseded anger in Ferguson on Monday as mourners lined the city streets to pay their respects to Michael Brown, the black teenager shot and killed by Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9. Joined by Sabrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, the parents of Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old African American fatally shot by George Zimmerman last year, and a cousin of Emmitt Till, the black teenager lynched by mob in 1955 for whistling at a white woman, Brown’s parents and more than 4500 people filled Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church to say goodbye to the teenager whose life was cut short by police violence.
However, as the Brown’s family and supporters on the ground seemed to pause for a moment of respect, tempers and a plume of criticism flared online in response to a Sunday New York Times article that raised doubts about Brown’s character calling him “no angel” and stopped short of justifying Officer Wilson’s actions.
