JACKSON, MS (Mississippi News Now) -
"We walked the streets together-brothers unafraid but now he's dead and I'm alive and won't forget"
Mike Smith didn't forget his friend Ben Brown.
Thursday afternoon he read a poem dedicated to Brown near where he was shot, written 45 years ago, to mark the anniversary of Brown's death.
"He was just a real special person. He had a lot of soul and humor and warmth," recalled Smith.
It was a small ceremony, but Brown's determination to bring civil rights reform to Mississippi looms large in the minds of family and friends.
"He was unafraid of those things and I cherish those memories and the things he did during that time," says Ben's brother Arthur Brown.
Brown was shot during a protest near Lynch and Rose Streets. He died the next day on his 22nd birthday.
Many questions loom around the young man's death. Some say he participated, while others believe brown was buying a sandwich and was an innocent bystander.
Retired police officer Willie Mack wrote a book about the investigation he conducted after meeting brown's mother.
"What we do know is he was shot in the back and that's where the tragedy lies," says Mack.
Jackson reached a settlement with the family city in 1995, saying in part a deceased officer was responsible, according to friends of Brown.
However, Brown's relatives believe there are still some unanswered questions. Specifically, were two others involved in the shooting, but they have found some closure.
"That's always gone be in my heart, that his life was taken. You can't excuse that part of it, even though you forgive things that happen. Memories will linger," says Arthur Brown.
The Brown family believes Ben's death changed how Jackson police responded to civil rights protests.
The area along Lynch street where Ben Brown was shot started a new movement in the civil rights era in Jackson and across the state, but some say there is still plenty of work to be done.
"They're trying to cut down on the number of people that can actually get to the polls. So, history goes on. Generations get up and fight," says Smith.
Copyright 2012 WLBT. All rights reserved.
WLBT 3 - Fox 40
