This month, a group of WashU students took an Engage STL trip to Ferguson, Missouri, and learned about the community through the honoring of the life of Michael Brown Jr.
2024 marks the 10th year since Michael Brown Sr. buried his 18-year-old son, after Michael Brown Jr. was shot and killed by a Ferguson police officer. His death ignited unrest in a community whose police department and municipal court were later found, in a Justice Department report, to have a history of harassment and racial bias and stereotyping, particularly against African Americans.
Dewitt Campbell, Manager of Civic Learning Initiatives for the Gephardt Institute, led the Saturday, Nov. 2 student trip to Ferguson. Engage STL trips occur several times each academic year, with the aim of helping WashU students get to know communities throughout St. Louis. The trips center around students learning from community leaders about the culture, people, opportunities, and challenges of the neighborhoods.
It was the second time that Gephardt Institute partnered with the WashU African and African-American Studies (AFAS) Department to put on an Engage STL trip. Campbell explained that as he, Gephardt Community Engagement Manager Sarah Nash, and Gabrielle Weeden, Community & Program Coordinator for the AFAS program, planned the trip, the idea of an experience in Ferguson that centered on Michael Brown Jr. solidified as one that would be valuable to WashU students.
Weeden had already been in contact with Chosen for Change, a nonprofit organization that provides support and outreach to grieving families, founded by Michael Brown Sr. and his spouse and Brown Jr.’s stepmother Cal Brown after their son’s death. The four connected to plan an agenda for the Engage STL trip.
“Normally it’s Sarah and I developing that agenda, but Chosen for Change really led it,” Campbell said.
He explained that it was important to Brown Jr.’s father and stepmom that the experience would honor Brown Jr. and paint a full picture of him, “rather than the character that he’s kind of become in the media,” said Campbell.
“Centering it around Michael Brown Jr. was very expressly the desire of the Michael Brown family,” he said. “They get frustrated about how he is portrayed. Even if you’re not taking that negative perception, most people’s only perception of him is what was in the media.”
To that end, the WashU students started their Engage STL trip at the home of Brown Jr.’s grandmother, Maxine Brown, where she recounted her relationship with her grandson, affectionately called “Mike Mike,” and the kind of child and teen he was.
“All of the figures who we hear about, read about, watch in the media, are actually human beings, and it’s very easy for us to lose sight of the human being behind the story,” Campbell said. “And this Engage STL reminded us of who Michael Brown was as a human being, and also his family, his community.”
From there, the students traveled to Normandy High School, from where Brown Jr. had graduated only eight days before his death. There, the group heard from Jade Harrell, a friend of the Brown family and a St. Louis radio and television host/producer, to talk about Brown Jr.’s time as a student in Normandy High School.
“For some of our students, their experiences are reflected, sadly, in the story of Michael Brown Jr. They can see themselves in these experiences,” said Campbell.
The students then journeyed to St. Peter’s Cemetery, the resting place of Brown Jr. The group formed a ring so that Brown Jr.’s headstone was a part of their circle, while they heard from Brown Sr. about the teen his son was, and how he is remembered after his death.
“It was a somber moment,” Campbell said. “I was struck by how he didn’t ask to be put into the spotlight. But he felt ‘chosen for change.’ In his worst moments, he chose to help others.”
After the cemetery, the Engage STL group visited the Canfield Drive apartment complex where Brown Jr. was killed. They heard from two Ferguson activists and leaders about some of the issues facing Ferguson that contributed to Brown Jr.’s death.
The Engage STL trip ended with a lunch at the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis and Salvation Army Ferguson Community Empowerment Center, prepared by Cal Brown’s Divas & Dishes catering service. The empowerment center was built in response to the Ferguson Uprising, on the site of a QuikTrip convenience store that was razed during the unrest.
“I think that the students took a lot away from the trip,” Campbell explained. “It was a great way to learn about the Ferguson Uprising, but also honor Michael Brown’s family. The stories were really heartfelt, and they made connections with all the students who came.”