Rapper Common led tributes to slain Missouri teen Michael Brown at the MTV Video Music Awards last night.
The star-studded audience in Los Angeles fell silent for five seconds in tribute to the 18-year-old aspiring rapper, two weeks after he was shot and killed by white police officer Darren Wilson.
A 15-second video clip set against a black-and-white image of Ferguson’s city sign was also played with a crowd in the background chanting ‘hand’s up don’t shoot’ – the slogan used by protesters in the St Louis suburb.
The footage included a quote from writer James Baldwin, which said: ‘Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced.’
During the awards ceremony, Common told the audience: ‘The people in the Ferguson…in St. Louis have used their voices to call for justice and change – to let everyone know that each and every one of our lives matters
In the moment of quiet that followed, artists including Snoop Dogg bowed their heads and closed their eyes before the performance carried on.
Brown, who was gunned down by police officer Darren Wilson on August 9, will be buried today during a public funeral at a St Louis Church.
Micheal Brown Snr has called for a ‘day of silence’ and ‘peace’ today as his son is laid to rest more than two weeks after his death.
The teen instantly became a symbol of racial injustice as protesters flooded into the streets of the predominantly black community in response.
His death also revived long simmering questions about police treatment of minorities across the country.