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 Civil rights activists, religious leaders and others from around
the United States are converging on the mostly black community of
about 21,000 to commemorate the life and death of 18-year-old
Michael Brown and call for improvements in relations with police.
The events, many organized by Brown's father, include marches,
concerts and a moment of silence at midday on Sunday on the street
where Brown was killed on Aug. 9, 2014.
"I'm expecting hundreds if not thousands of people," said Tommie
Pierson Sr., pastor of the Greater St. Mark Family Church, where a
service honoring Brown is scheduled this weekend. "We are not
anticipating any violence. However, you have to always be prepared."
Pierson's church held a "de-escalation" training session on Sunday
to prepare for potential clashes between protesters and police this
weekend.
Brown's death sparked months of sometimes violent protests both in
Ferguson and around the United States following subsequent police
killings of unarmed black men in several other cities. It also
spurred the "Black Lives Matter" movement that has cast a spotlight
on long-troubled relations between police and minority residents of
many U.S. cities.
 A year after rioters burned a convenience store and hurled rocks and
gasoline bombs at police, who responded with teargas and rubber
bullets, the Chosen for Change foundation founded by Brown's family
is planning what it calls a weekend of "positive and peaceful"
events.
Area law enforcement leaders say they also want a peaceful weekend
and have been meeting with protest groups to discuss strategies to
make sure that is the case, said Ferguson city spokesman Jeff Small.
The Ferguson police force of 50 will be fully staffed this weekend
and will have the help of the much larger St. Louis County police
force, he said.
Ferguson's police came under heavy criticism for their militarized
response to last August's protests, when they used heavy armored
vehicles, dogs and noise cannons on crowds of protesters, at times
escalating the violence in Ferguson's streets.
That response prompted U.S. President Barack Obama in May to require
U.S. police departments to provide additional justification for
using heavy equipment such as armored military-style vehicles and
riot shields.
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'NOT THE FIRST ONE'
Brown died after being shot multiple times by white Ferguson police
officer Darren Wilson after a confrontation with Wilson on a sunny
Saturday afternoon as Brown and a friend walked through their
neighborhood.
Images of the teen's body, which lay in the street for more than
four hours, and an aftermath in which police officials defended
Wilson's actions and characterized Brown as a thug and a thief,
enraged many in the black community.
"He (Brown) was one, but not the first one, to be murdered by
policing authorities and obviously he wasn't the last," said
Montague Simmons, chairman of the Organization for Black Struggle,
one of the groups planning protests. "People want to see something
different. They want safety to mean something different."
The grand jury that reviewed the case found Wilson had broken no
laws, but that decision provoked a second wave of rioting in
Ferguson three months after Brown's death.
Ferguson Mayor James Knowles said the city has made many reforms in
the last year, though it still has more to do. This weekend Ferguson
will not officially recognize the anniversary of Brown's death.
Instead, it will sponsor a job fair Saturday and a back-to-school
event Sunday at the local community center as an alternative,
Knowles said.
"We hope people will choose to do something community oriented,
focus on moving the community forward together as opposed to
anything that might be disruptive," Knowles said.
(Reporting by Carey Gillam in Kansas City; Editing by Scott Malone
and Eric Beech)
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