Source: Andrew Lichtenstein / Getty
Lezley McSpadden, mother of Michael Brown—who was murdered by Ferguson police in 2014—has big plans for 2018.
“What I’m contemplating is running for City Council of Ferguson,” she said during a recent Harvard University panel discussion surrounding her son’s death and documentary film Stranger Fruit. “There are several people back home that are willing to help me get that going and make sure that I’m treated right.”
As VIBE notes, this isn’t the first major stride McSpadden has made since the untimely death of her son. She also created the Rainbow of Mothers coalition, re-enrolled in school, and recently got her GED. In 2016, she published her book—Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil: The Life, Legacy, and Love of My Son Michael Brown—in which she shares her unfiltered account of the day of her son’s murder.
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She told Teen Vogue around the time of the book’s release that, through her work, she hopes to incite change and leave a legacy that supports other mothers who have lost children. “I’ve always been a giving person,” she shared, adding that she wants “all the mothers out here to know that I’m willing to share this platform with them.”
A run for City Council of Ferguson would mean a hands-on opportunity to challenge the infrastructure that made the death of her son, as well as the vindication of Officer Darren Wilson, possible. Benjamin Crump, the family’s attorney added: “What a legacy that would be—elected to the City Council and supervising the same police department that killed Michael Brown.”
Stranger Fruit, the Michael Brown documentary that made a brow-raising impact at last year’s SXSW film festival, was released on April 3.
Watch the panel discussion below, then click here to see the documentary trailer.
