Ferguson: A Decade of Justice Deferred

By Josh Leach on July 16, 2024

For almost a decade, Lezley McSpadden has been forced to relive her family’s tragedy. She has met with a revolving door of prosecutors and investigators, asking for nothing more than justice for her son, Michael Brown, after he was gunned down by a police officer on August 9, 2014. Every time—no matter how sympathetic the officials seemed at first—they ultimately failed to provide any redress for the wrong her family endured. 

Now, almost 10 years to the day after her son’s death, McSpadden is bringing her case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)—a cross-continental body of experts holding all member states in the Americas to the standard of human rights. For people throughout North and South America who have suffered injustice at the hands of their government, the IACHR is a place of last resort to tell their story and seek the justice they deserve.

A Murder in Broad Daylight

The Commission held a hearing on Ms. McSpadden’s case on Wednesday, July 10. This session was not designed to reach a final decision, but merely to provide Ms. McSpadden with an initial opportunity to tell the commissioners about her experience.

Despite the limited time allowed, Ms. McSpadden spoke powerfully of the life that was taken from her family. She recalled Michael Brown as a young man who was the first to try everything in his family; an inquisitive teenager who was gifted with computers and would have been part of the country’s technology revolution. This promising life ended tragically on August 9, 2014. As many people vividly remember, that was the day that a white police officer, Darren Wilson, shot Michael Brown to death, sparking protests across the country. 

Police and prosecutors falsely sought to portray Brown as the “aggressor” in the incident. Ms. McSpadden recalled a meeting with state officials in which they told her they were looking into Mike’s “juvenile record”—even though he had never had one. “That was the first strike for me,” she observed, “in losing trust in the criminal justice system.” It was plain to her that the state had prejudged the situation—preemptively casting her son as a criminal based solely—as she put it—“on his size, his color, and his community.” 

Trapped in Legal Limbo

The Missouri state officials would not be the only officials to fail to bring justice for Michael Brown’s murder. Federal investigators similarly looked into the case, but refused to bring charges. The Justice Department issued a report justifying their conclusion, in which they argued there was not sufficient evidence to find that Wilson had violated Brown’s civil rights. 

As one of McSpadden’s lawyers, Justin Hansford, pointed out to the commissioners —however—the DOJ report failed to account for a number of key discrepancies in the case. The report—however plausible it looked to the media—proved on closer examination to be “rife with errors.” As Ms. McSpadden hauntingly put it in her testimony, the DOJ report “has a lot of holes in it; just like Mike’s body did.”

A Court of Last Resort

When a person in Ms. McSpadden’s position has exhausted all remedies at the state and federal level, they have nowhere to turn but to international bodies. So that is what she did. Nearly 10 years after her son’s murder, she presented her case to the IACHR. And while the Commission may not be able to bind the United States to any ruling on the case, they can nevertheless provide a vital platform for survivors’ testimony to be heard. 

Ms. McSpadden proved on July 10 that people who have suffered one of the worst human rights violations imaginable—losing a loved one to state violence—can nonetheless speak truth to power. Ms. McSpadden is still asking for justice—not only in the form of accountability for the individuals involved, but healing and reparation for the whole community.

A Systemic Failing

In the decade that has passed since the murder in Ferguson, countless people have marched for police accountability. Yet, the killings continue. According to the Law Enforcement Epidemiology Project at the University of Illinois-Chicago, more than 600 people lose their lives every year to police violence in the United States. These numbers have only increased since 2014—despite innumerable demands for change.

This injustice will never end if people allow themselves to forget the legacies of the people who have lost their lives. By bearing witness once again—almost 10 years later—Ms. McSpadden is ensuring this fate will never befall her son. None of us will forget Michael Brown’s name. And we, like his mother, should never stop fighting for justice.

Image credit: Shutterstock – a katz