Ray Mills at the makeshift memorial for Michael Brown
Overwhelmed by what was happening in Ferguson, Missouri, two Atlanta-area men decided they had to do
something. Although neither were avid runners, they made the decision to run 540 miles,
from Atlanta, Georgia, to Ferguson, Missouri:
"I had a reason to run, not to run from my problems, but to run towards a problem and run for the problems of the world and the problems of America and what's going on now." he said.
The two men took a few weeks to train before embarking on a journey that took them through five states in rain, sleet, hail and snow, over 20 days, running and walking about 35 miles per day, leading them to the Michael Brown memorial in Ferguson where the teen was shot.
They hope to be an inspiration:
"Statistically, it seems like in our community we [black men] are incarcerated or doing nothing. We want to go against the grain and not be another statistic, and we wanted to inspire other people to do the same." Mills said. Hall agreed, adding, "We want to show that people who look like us can be doing something positive."
See their emotional arrival in Ferguson (tissue warning):