President Obama is sending three White House officials to Ferguson, Mo., on Monday for the funeral service for Michael Brown, the 18-year-old black man killed by a white police officer two weeks ago.
The shooting set off days of unrest in the St. Louis suburb, but the demonstrations this weekend were relatively calm, with only a handful of arrests, The Associated Press reports.
Attending Monday's service will be Broderick Johnson, chairman of the My Brother's Keeper Task Force, an Obama initiative to empower boys and men of color. Joining Johnson will be Marlon Marshall, deputy director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, and Heather Foster, an adviser for the office.
Marshall is a St. Louis native and attended high school with Brown's mother, the White House says.
Saturday was the fourth night of relative calm in Ferguson, with smaller, quieter protests than the tense clashes earlier in the week.
"But once again," AP said, "peaceful daytime protests gave way to angrier shouts and more defiant marchers as night fell — including some who argued angrily with one another. But well past midnight, there were no sign of police riot gear, tear gas or armored vehicles that marked earlier street skirmishes in the first week after Brown's death."
Meanwhile, supporters of the Ferguson officer who shot Brown, Darren Wilson, rallied about 10 miles south of Ferguson at a sports pub owned by a member of the St. Louis police department.
USA Today reports that online fundraising for Wilson has surpassed the amount raised for the Brown family.
The Michael Brown Memorial Fund has raised more than $216,000 to "assist his family with costs that they will acquire as they seek justice on Michael's behalf."
A crowd-funding page for Wilson, on the other hand, raised $234,910 before it stopped accepting donations, having exceeded its goal of $100,000. The group has opened a new fundraising page and accrued more than $106,000, USA Today reports.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.