Horsford attends slain Missouri teen’s funeral

U.S. Rep. Steve Horsford, D-Nev., said he was honored to be present at the Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church in St. Louis on Monday for Michael Brown’s funeral.

“Today was a very powerful service that allowed a city and a nation to come together as one to pay their respects to the Brown family,” he said in a telephone interview.

Horsford was touched, he said, by what friends of Michael Brown Jr. had to say about the high school graduate who was planning to go to college this fall.

“All, without exception, said that Michael Brown was a good boy who turned his life over to God. He had joined his church. He had offered his own testimony for what God had done in his life,” Horsford said. “He had a life in front of him and unfortunately he was taken too soon.”

Horsford, who was invited to the funeral service by Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-Mo., did not speak directly to the Brown family. He did visit the site where Brown, a black teenager, was shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, and spoke about the need to strengthen relationships between police and the communities they serve across the country. He also called for an end to racial profiling by law enforcement agencies.

“This is not the first time,” he said. “There have been patterns of these types of targeting of young boys – particularly boys of color, whether it is Ferguson, Missouri; Chicago, Illinois; or Las Vegas, Nevada. That’s why we need to improve the community-police relationships.”

Horsford declined to say who paid for his trip to Missouri other than to say it was not made at taxpayer expense.

Contact Peter Urban at purban@stephensmedia.com or at 202-783-1760.