With the five-year anniversary of Michael Brown's death approaching, a survey done by the GenForward Survey project at the University of Chicago found that over 40% of millennials, ages 18-36, say that criminal justice issues will affect who they vote for in the 2020 election.
Officer Darren Wilson killed Brown on August 9, 2014, during a street confrontation in Ferguson, Missouri. Wilson claimed self-defense, saying Brown was coming at him menacingly moments after attacking the officer inside his own police SUV. Following the death, in the beginning moments of the Black Lives Matter movement, protesters took to the streets, making the St. Louis suburb a center point in the fight for police reform and racial justice. Demonstrations escalated again in November of that year after a grand jury decided not to indict Wilson.
While no charges were brought forth by the grand jury, the saga of the case may not have seen its end, with Michael Brown Sr. scheduled to speak at a news conference in Clayton, Missouri, on Friday, the anniversary of his son's death, to urge St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell to reopen the case, according to the Associated Press.
Five years later, after numerous other officers have avoided indictments for police brutality, the GenForward survey found that 76% of Black respondents believe that police charged with the murders of Black people get off too often, while less than half of whites believe the same. Nearly six in 10 Black respondents also said that the killing of Black people by the police in the United States is an extremely serious issue, while only 22% of whites agreed.
Despite the difference in racial numbers on identifying the problems, the number breakdown on given solutions still balanced out, with nearly 60% strongly supporting legislation to require on-duty police officers to wear video cameras, as well as nearly 50% getting behind the idea of making it more difficult to put people in jail for minor violations.
A total of 3,427 interviews were conducted, with 98% taking place by web. According to NBC News, the Brown family received $1.5 million in a wrongful death settlement with the city of Ferguson.
