Michael Brown’s Mother, Attorneys To Speak At Harvard

CAMBRIDGE, MA — Monday night, nearly four years after Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old black man, was fatally shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., his mother and the maker of a documentary about his death will be speaking at Harvard University.

The death of Brown fueled the Black Lives Matter movement on the heels of the the acquittal of the man who shot Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old in Florida, which sparked protests across the nation about race and police.

Lezley McSpadden along with Benjamin Crump who was the family attorney for Brown's family as well as the families for Martin and Clark, two other men who were fataly shot by white police and whose deaths sparked national conversation surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement, will be at Harvard on Monday for a screening of the documentary "Stranger Fruit" and a panel discussion on the movement for Black Lives Matters at Harvard’s Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics.

The documentary filmmaker Jason Pollock and another attorney for the families of Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin will also be there. Harvard professors Khalil Muhammad and Ashley Spillane will moderate the discussion.

Speaker(s): Benjamin Crump, Lezley McSpadden, Jason Pollock, Jasmine Rand
Moderator(s): Khalil Muhammad, Ashley Spillane

Date: Monday, April 23, 4 p.m. public screening followed by panel

Where: Rubenstein, 306
The Ash Center for Democratic Governance & Innovation, HKS Black Student Union, HKS Arts & Culture Caucus, IOP Politics of Race and Ethnicity are co sponsoring the event.

The JFK Jr. Forum aims to educate, inspire debate, and foster conversation at the Institute of Politics. Unless otherwise specified, members of the Harvard community and general public are encouraged to attend Forum events.

Previously on Patch:

Vandal Sprays 'White Lives Matter' on Boston's Black Market

California Man Stephon Clark Shot 8 Times, Autopsy Shows

Trayvon Martin To Graduate Posthumously From Miami-Area

File photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch