Local Reverend Calls On Metro Detroiters To Join Push For Police Brutality Legislation After Events In Ferguson
DETROIT (WWJ) - Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon says the National Guard is needed to help restore "peace and order" in Ferguson after police used tear gas Sunday night to clear demonstrators off the streets well ahead of a city curfew.
While protests in Ferguson over the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a white police officer have entered their second week, a metro Detroit reverend is doing his part here in Michigan.
Rev. Charles Williams, II, who just came back from Ferguson, is the President of the Michigan Chapter of the National Action Network.
Williams told WWJ's Zahra Huber not only have they launched a campaign raising funds to support Brown's family — they've also initiated a call to action.
"We want folks to begin to prepare for national mobilization to Washington D.C. in September where we're going to call on Congress to begin to put together legislation and policy that addresses police brutality nationwide," Williams said.
Williams said there has been a lot of misrepresentation of what's going on in Ferguson.
"The folks that are causing the violence, or the folks that are causing the looting and rioting is a very, very small faction that is taking advantage of the Michael Brown case," Williams said.
He said the majority of the community is protesting in peace; and, he said, it's not the family or the broader Ferguson community that's vandalizing and looting.
[To donate to the Michael Brown memorial fund, visit this link].
MORE: Gov. Nixon Directs National Guard to Ferguson
TIMELINE: The Death of Michael Brown and Unrest in Ferguson
Follow complete coverage of the situation in Ferguson on our sister site, CBS St. Louis.
