Michael Brown anniversary
Michael Brown Sr (centre) leads an anniversary memorial march for his dead son Reuters

The town of Ferguson in the St. Louis blighted by the shooting of black resident Michael Brown by a white police officer has marked the incident's anniversary with a rally through its streets.

In what was a peaceful protest, local residents, religious leaders and activists marched through the town with many of those taking part shouting, "we do this for Mike Brown".

Michael Brown was show on 9 August 2014 in Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis.
Brown. The 18-year-old unarmed black man was killed by white police officer Darren Wilson, 28.

The disputed circumstances of the shooting along with the protest following the incident received global attention and caused a vigorous debate about the police authority's relationship with African Americans, particularly males.

Before the shooting, Brown had stolen several packets of cigarillos from a convenience store and assaulted the cashier. He was accompanied by his friend Dorian Johnson.

Wilson had been notified by his dispatcher of the robbery and the two suspects' descriptions. He encountered Brown and Johnson as they were walking down the middle of the street and backed up his police car to block them.

Brown and Wilson then tussled through the window of the police vehicle resulting in Wilson's gun being discharged.

Brown and Johnson fled the scene and the officer chased them. Brown then stopped and turned to face the officer and Wilson shot him several times with the bullets, striking Brown in the front. He fired a total of twelve bullets. Brown was unarmed.

On 4 March this year the US Department of Justice cleared Wilson of civil rights violations in the shooting and said that in accordance with the evidence, Wilson shot Michael Brown in self-defence.

The anniversary was marked on social media with several members of the black community airing their views on Twitter.

@britrican said: "I hope, somewhere, #MikeBrown sees the revolt he has sparked. His place in the long struggle for Black liberation is secure."

Black justice activist @ShaunKing said: "This is #MikeBrown. Loved life, loved his family & friends. Had the whole world ahead of him."

The US police authorities have recently been placed under extreme scrutiny as to their handling of arrests involving black citizens.

On 19 July Samuel DuBose was shot during a traffic stop for a missing front license plate in Cincinnati, Ohio. DuBose, another unarmed black man, was fatally shot by Ray Tensing, a white University of Cincinnati police officer. The incident was recorded on Tensing's body camera.

Reports stated that DuBose was driving on an indefinitely suspended driver's license and had a stash of marijuana and an estimated $2,600 cash in the car.

Only today (9 August) it was reported that a black college football player who drove a vehicle into a car dealership had been shot dead by a white trainee police officer who was responding to a report of a burglary.

Christian Taylor, 19 from Arlington, Texas, was shot by officer Brad Miller who was attending the scene with a colleague who had been training him.

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