The decision not to indict the police officer that killed Missouri teenager Michael Brown has led to rallies across the country, including several here in Washtenaw County. Members of By Any Means Necessary believe racism is a problem in police departments across the nation.
Several dozen protestors angry about the Ferguson decision chanted on the University of Michigan Diag early this afternoon.
Leroy Lewis from Detroit says Brown's death was in Missouri, but has made issues of injustice obvious everywhere. "No place in America is isolated from racism, from sexism, from inequality. That bubble has shrunk on people who have thought that they could hide and ignore the racism and inequality in society," Lewis says.
Lewis and others at the Diag say the police shooting death earlier this month of Aura Rosser is proof that Ann Arbor isn't free from these concerns.
BAMN National Organizer Jose Alvarenga says the anger in Ferguson is a sign that people aren't going to let the killings of minorities continue.
A funeral for justice march is scheduled for 4:30 starting at the downtown Ypsilanti library, and a vigil against police violence starts at six on the U of M Diag.
Like 89.1 WEMU on Facebook and follow us on Twitter— Andrew Cluley is the Ann Arbor beat reporter, and anchor for 89.1 WEMU News. Contact him at734.487.3363 or email him acluley@emich.edu.