After nearly two weeks of angry protests over his death at the hands of a police officer, Michael Brown is being laid to rest.
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The presence of White House officials at the ceremony underscores the degree to which the tragic shooting of Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old, has sparked a national debate at the highest levels over race and police tactics. Brown was shot six times by Darren Wilson, 28, a white officer with the Ferguson Police Department.
President Barack Obama dispatched three officials familiar with community affairs: Broderick Johnson, who heads the White House’s My Brother’s Keeper Task Force; and from the Office of Public Engagement, Marlon Marshall, special assistant to the president and principal deputy director of public engagement; and Heather Foster, a public engagement adviser. Marshall, a St. Louis native, attended high school with Brown’s mother, the report says.
The service was held 10 a.m.CST at Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church in St. Louis, where Brown’s uncle and the Rev. Al Sharpton gave eulogies. The church can accommodate 4,500 people and Alpha Phi Alpha, the nation’s oldest black fraternity, is paying for the arrangements.
The slain teen’s father, Michael Brown Sr., has asked for protests in the St. Louis area to stop on the day of the funeral, saying the family wants a day of quiet, the Washington Post says, citing a report at BuzzFeed.
Read more at the Washington Post.
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