Nearly five years after Michael Brown’s death sparked protests and a movement over police treatment of African-Americans, his mother, Lezley McSpadden, is running for a Ferguson city council seat in the southern part of town where her son died.
“I hope that people will see that I’m still standing after all that I’ve been through,” McSpadden said. “And I’m still fighting. And I will always be a voice for Michael Brown and all of our other black and brown children who are being mistreated and who have been up against police brutality.”
McSpadden doesn’t face a clear path to a three-year council term in the city’s 3rd Ward. She faces an incumbent, Keith Kallstrom, with extensive experience on the council. And McSpadden must also get past Fran Griffin, who has support from residents that have pushed for change in Ferguson’s government.
My first priority is the mental health and wellness of not only myself but others. And what happened on Aug. 9, the trauma that followed with that, I’m very concerned about the mental wellness of those folks. Not only have they grown four years older, but that has stayed with them. And we want to see people able to move forward. We want to see a better relationship with the police. And we would like to see a better engagement between the youth and the police.
Lezley McSpadden told St. Louis Public Radio
Coverage from St. Louis Public Radio