Statement by NNPA President, Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. on Grand Jury Decision in Ferguson, MO about the Killing of Michael Brown

Yesterday’s announcement that the Grand Jury decided not to indict Ferguson, MO Police Officer Darren Wilson who killed unarmed 18 year-old Michael Brown in August 2014 is yet another systematic and tragic slap in the face of equal justice in the United States.  On behalf of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), today our prayers and solidarity are first resolutely with the parents and family of young Michael Brown as well as concern for everyone in the Black American community and all people of good will in St. Louis County, Missouri.  I have personally spoken directly to two of our NNPA member publishers who publish in the St. Louis area: Donald M. Suggs of the St. Louis American and Michael C. Williams of the St. Louis Metro Sentinel.  We discussed the tense situation in Ferguson.  We are the “Voice of the Black Community” and the NNPA will not be silent or rest until there is justice in the Michael Brown case and other cases of racially-motivated police killings and violence in our communities across the nation.