--- title: Slain Ferguson Teen's Parents: Don't Lose Focus on Our Son description: The parents of slain Ferguson teen, Michael Brown, have called on the public to focus on their demands for justice and not let footage of unrest in Ferguson overshadow their case. canonical: https://time.com/3143848/mike-brown-parents-today/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-19T12:37:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:44:21.528Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Slain Ferguson Teen's Parents: Don't Lose Focus on Our Son og:description: The parents of slain Ferguson teen, Michael Brown, have called on the public to focus on their demands for justice and not let footage of unrest in Ferguson overshadow their case. og:url: https://time.com/3143848/mike-brown-parents-today/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9627c6b4ad12285a/69869ef31eebf7cefe3722f5/ap925213882788.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: APTOPIX Police Shooting Missouri og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Slain Ferguson Teen's Parents: Don't Lose Focus on Our Son twitter:description: The parents of slain Ferguson teen, Michael Brown, have called on the public to focus on their demands for justice and not let footage of unrest in Ferguson overshadow their case. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9627c6b4ad12285a/69869ef31eebf7cefe3722f5/ap925213882788.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Parents of Slain Ferguson Teen: Don't Lose Focus on Our Son ## Video: Ferguson's Countdown to Curfew [Watch (HLS stream): Ferguson's Countdown to Curfew](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7TmLGuKX.m3u8) (5:10)  _Published 2014-08-17. Countdown to Curfew compress_  by [Dan Kedmey](/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Aug 19, 2014 12:37 PM CUT  Lesley McSpadden, left, is comforted by her husband, Louis Head, after her 18-year-old son, Michael Brown was shot and killed by police in the middle of the street in Ferguson, Mo., near St. Louis on Aug. 9, 2014. Lesley McSpadden, left, is comforted by her husband, Louis Head, after her 18-year-old son, Michael Brown was shot and killed by police in the middle of the street in Ferguson, Mo., near St. Louis on Aug. 9, 2014.Huy Mach—AP  by [Dan Kedmey](/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Aug 19, 2014 12:37 PM CUT The parents of Michael Brown, the teenager slain by police in Ferguson, Mo., have called on the public to focus on their demands for justice and not let the [worsening unrest](http://time.com/3141693/ferguson-michael-brown-national-guard/ "undefined") in the St Louis suburb overshadow the circumstances surrounding their son’s death. “It is a distraction,” said Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, on Tuesday’s broadcast of NBC’s _TODAY_ show, “but we won’t let it distract us to the point where we lose focus.” “We need to keep the focus on Michael Brown Jr.,” added his father, Michael Brown Sr. The parents appeared on TODAY to demand that charges be brought against Officer Darren Wilson, who fatally shot Brown on Aug. 9. Meanwhile, the mother of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed Florida teen whose 2012 death also provoked public outrage, vowed to back the family’s cause.”I will support you and your efforts to seek justice for your Michael and the countless other Michaels & Trayvons of our country,” she wrote in an [open letter](http://time.com/3136685/travyon-sybrina-fulton-ferguson/ "undefined") to the family. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3143848/mike-brown-parents-today/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3143848/mike-brown-parents-today/"},"headline":"Parents of Slain Ferguson Teen: Don't Lose Focus on Our Son","datePublished":"2014-08-19T12:37:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:44:21.528Z","description":"\"We need to keep the focus on Michael Brown Jr.\"","url":"https://time.com/3143848/mike-brown-parents-today/","keywords":["Crime","Gun Violence","Trayvon Martin","justice","Police Brutality","Ferguson topic","Michael Brown"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9627c6b4ad12285a/69869ef31eebf7cefe3722f5/ap925213882788.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9627c6b4ad12285a/69869ef31eebf7cefe3722f5/ap925213882788.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"APTOPIX Police Shooting Missouri","caption":"APTOPIX Police Shooting Missouri","creditText":"Huy Mach—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3143848/mike-brown-parents-today/","name":"Parents of Slain Ferguson Teen: Don't Lose Focus on Our Son"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Ferguson's Countdown to Curfew","description":"Countdown to Curfew compress","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/7TmLGuKX/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-08-17T19:39:57.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7TmLGuKX.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3143848/mike-brown-parents-today/","duration":"PT5M10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3143848/mike-brown-parents-today/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```