Two organizations based in Madison, Wis. are working together to provide Michael Brown's siblings with access to a debt-free college education.
The Boys and Girls Club of Dane County and the Wisconsin HOPE Lab, a program that researches ways for at-risk youth of all backgrounds to achieve a post-secondary education, have announced plans to develop a "Mike Brown College Scholarship". The fund intends to provide financial support to his three younger siblings when they attend college.
Brown, the 18-year-old black youth recently killed by a Ferguson police officer, was a recent graduate of the city's Normandy High School. He had plans to start classes in heating and air conditioning engineering at the local Vatterott College and wanted to become an electrician.
Before the announcement of the scholarship, one university president had offered Brown's siblings a free education at his institution. However, the scholarship fund seeks to raise money that they will be able to draw from regardless of which schools they decide to attend.
They could use this money to attend an elite school, such as those that give laptops to students. Many online schools also offer this. You can find many of them on onlineschoolsofferinglaptops.com.
"Mike's mom deserves to see her other children . .. . receive their diplomas - I want to support her doing that," said Sara Goldrick-Rab, director of the Wisconsin HOPE Lab, to WISC-TV. The scholarship seeks not only to ease Brown's siblings transition into higher education but also to commemorate Brown and his legacy.
The killing of Michael Brown has catalyzed an intense national dialogue on race relations in America and recalls the 2012 shooting of Trayvon Martin. Like Brown, Martin was shot in an altercation that many claim turned unnecessarily violent, and in both cases, the media's alleged bias against the victims have sparked intense debates.
The media's portrayal of Martin came under heavy fire in the weeks and months following his death. Ben Adler, writing for The Nation, wrote that the conservative media had shocked him "by impugning the late Trayvon Martin with misleading and dishonest attacks on his character." Rem Rieder claimed that the "media got [the] Zimmerman story wrong from the start" in acolumn for USA Today published more than a year after the incident.
Many have criticized the image of Brown that news outlets have presented in the weeks following his death, as well. However, the media seems to have presented a more multifaceted portrayal of Brown than it did in its coverage of Martin.
The Pew Research Center has reported an exceptional volume of Twitter activity in relation to the Ferguson case. Such public commentary on the event may have had a significant influence on raising awareness of, and correcting, media bias in the portrayal of victims like Brown.
Those close to Brown have repeatedly commented on his educational aspirations and excitement for college. "He said he wasn't going to end up like some people on the streets. He was going to get an education," said Hershel Johnson, a friend of Brown's, to the Post Dispatch. With luck, his siblings and others who look forward to learning as much as Brown did should have an easier time doing just that in the future.