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Thousands mourn slain teenager Michael Brown (w/video)

 
Lesley McSpadden, left, Michael Brown's mother, closes her eyes during the funeral service for her son, Monday, Aug. 25, 2014, at Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church in St. Louis. Hundreds of people gathered to say goodbye to Brown, who was shot and killed by a Ferguson, Mo., police officer on Aug. 9. (AP Photo/St. Louis Post Dispatch, Robert Cohen, Pool)
Lesley McSpadden, left, Michael Brown's mother, closes her eyes during the funeral service for her son, Monday, Aug. 25, 2014, at Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church in St. Louis. Hundreds of people gathered to say goodbye to Brown, who was shot and killed by a Ferguson, Mo., police officer on Aug. 9. (AP Photo/St. Louis Post Dispatch, Robert Cohen, Pool)
Published Aug. 26, 2014

ST. LOUIS — His gold-and-black coffin was topped by a baseball cap — a personal reminder of the young man who was fatally shot by a police officer only weeks ago. But the calls from the pulpit were for Michael Brown's memory to live on in a broad movement for justice, for voter participation and for answers to unending questions about race and policing.

"There is a cry being made from the ground, not just for Michael Brown, but for the Trayvon Martins, for those children at Sandy Hook Elementary School, for the Columbine massacre, for the black-on-black crime," the Rev. Charles Ewing, Brown's uncle, told 2,500 people packed into the Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church on Monday for a funeral attended by family members but also by people Brown had never met: celebrities, representatives from the White House, members of Congress, civil rights leaders and hundreds of residents.

Infused with Scripture and song, the funeral was a mix of intimate reflections and national policy plans. Relatives reminisced in choked voices about Brown's wide smile as a picture from his high school graduation flashed on two wide screens, as leaders urged those gathered to memorialize Brown's life by carrying forward a vocal, strong and unified effort to seek change across the country.

"Michael Brown must be remembered for more than disturbances," the Rev. Al Sharpton said, reflecting on the sometimes violent demonstrations that followed Brown's shooting by a white police officer in nearby Ferguson on Aug. 9. "He must be remembered for: This is where they started changing what was going on. Oh yeah, there have been other times in history that became seminal moments, and this is one of those moments."

Sharpton denounced what he called the militarization of the police and how they had treated Brown, who was black and unarmed. Sharpton exhorted the crowd, calling on the African-American community to push for change instead of "sitting around having ghetto pity parties."

"All of us are required to respond to this," Sharpton said. "And all of us must solve this."

People from all walks of life came: in pumps and dresses but also in jeans and T-shirts bearing Brown's image; from Ferguson and faraway.

An array of well-known figures filled one part of the church, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson; the film director Spike Lee; T.D. Jakes, the bishop of the Potter's House, an African-American megachurch; members of Congress; two children of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.; and other families of young people who have been similarly killed.

Brown's family had called for a halt to protests on Monday out of respect for the funeral, and those leading the service urged the crowd not to be part of violent protests or looting in the future. "It is imperative that we resist the temptation to retaliate by looting and rioting in our own neighborhoods," said Bishop Edwin Bass of the Church of God in Christ in St. Louis, as some in the church cheered and called out, "Yes!"

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"The destruction of property in Ferguson only gives bad pictures to the world," the bishop said, later adding: "This is a day to immerse the family in the warm affection and abiding peace of the beloved community."

At one point during the service, men from an overflow room across the street from the church ran into the street and began loudly chanting, "Hands up, don't shoot," words that have become a refrain here since Brown's death. But a woman screamed back: "Be quiet. Be quiet. Respect that family," and the men quieted down.

Around the area, some schools reopened on Monday, after delays because of the demonstrations. Officials reported good attendance levels and relatively smooth starts, as the local police described calm streets in Ferguson. Jana Shortt, a spokeswoman for the Ferguson-Florissant School District, said teachers were not instructed on whether to address the issue in their classes, though some students said that they were talking about it and that some had worn buttons and shirts to school in recognition of Brown. "I heard people yell, 'Hands up, don't shoot!' in the hallways," said Breeana McKee, a junior at McCluer High School.

Brown was shot by Officer Darren Wilson after the officer encountered Brown and a friend walking down the middle of the street and told them to move off the road. The friend, Dorian Johnson, said that Wilson grabbed his friend's neck and shirt and that Brown tried to push the officer off of him. The police have said that Brown and Wilson struggled over the officer's gun. Autopsies showed that Brown was shot six times, twice in the head.

After the service, hundreds of family members, friends and supporters of Brown huddled under and around a green tent at St. Peter's Cemetery in nearby Normandy, Mo., as Brown's coffin was lowered into a copper-lined cement vault.

"We shall overcome," the mourners softly sang.

"We love you, Mike Mike," someone cried. Others sobbed.

Lesley McSpadden, Brown's mother, returned to the vault by herself after everyone else had left. She touched it, then stood over the inscription: "Michael OD Brown; 1996-2014."