His family and friends he was 18, and unarmed, when gunned down by a white Police Officer in ferguson missouri. An autopsy showed he was hit at least 6 times, twice in the head. His body lay on the street for over 4 hours. His death unleashed an anger that had been building for decades at a system the community here says is stacked against them from birth. And raised questions about policing and race in america. Everything thats happening in ferguson is everything thats wrong with policecommunity relationships, particularly when it comes to black men. One of the reasons that black young men are angry about this because they all see themselves as a Michael Brown. It could have been them. That anger would continue for months to come, but while the Legal Process ran its course a Community Held back. Watching and waitingfor justice to be done. Fault lines was there during that time in this special extended episode we look deeper into why so many here feel such injustice from those sworn to protect them. Sit down for Micheal Brown sit down for Micheal Brown sit down for Micheal Brown. When fault lines first arrived in ferguson just days after the shooting, we were shocked at what we found. A small crowd of peaceful demonstrators, faced with a police force that looked ready for war. This is an extraordinary display of force to be honest. These guys are armed to the teeth sir, do you know why theyre bringing this equipment in . You all need to move back some ok . Do you know why theyre bringing in Armored Vehicles . Were arent from here. [crowd chanting] mike cant go home mike cant go home we are not out here to start trouble, please dont harass us. It wasnt hard to understand why the Police Response would be viewed as inflammatory. You dont think thats provocative . They provoking it. They asking them to move out of the street. Do you see any violence occurring right now . Its peaceful, they dont have to be here. Has it been like this the last few days . Its been like this for years, for years. This kind of policing . Yes. Its been like this for years, from birth. [crowd chanting] hands up, dont shoot hands up, dont shoot hands up, dont shoot hands up, dont shoot hands up, dont shoot hands up, dont shoot . They make us inhuman. What do you mean . They break us down, try to strip us of every right as a human. Were supposed to be innocent until Proven Guilty but we always guilty until proven innocent. That night quickly spiraled into what would be a turning point of the ferguson story. It seems like theyre throwing flash bombs now. Theres explosions going off. Were not quite sure what the police are firing but theres gas coming down too. Were going to get out of here in a matter of hours, the streets went from peaceful protest and calls for justice, to scenes out of a conflict zone. As the military style vehicles advanced, rubber bullets were fired. Anyone on the streets including media was viewed as a target. These scenes would flash across News Networks that night. [crowd chanting] what do we want . Justice when do we want it . Now what do we want . Justice when do we want it . Now . By the next morning, the nation was paying attention. After a call from president obama, missouris governor showed up in ferguson putting the state Highway Patrol in charge of the response, relieving local police of their command. Governor, how would you explain the nature of the presence that we saw on the streets yesterday . I mean, there were armored personnel carriers, about 100 police in militarystyle uniform, high powered rifles being trained on the crowd, who is in charge of making those decisions and are they going to be held to account for mistakes that you clearly think have been made . That was yesterday, tonights tonight. Tomorrows tomorrow. But in a move that caused renewed anger on the street, fergusons police chief released this video the very next morning. It showed brown stealing from a Grocery Store. His grieving family was incensed. The motives and timing of releasing the video were immediately questioned. Did he know that he was a suspect in the case or did he not know . Im going to read you a statement here. Michael browns family is beyond outraged at the devious way the police chief has chosen to disseminate piecemeal information in a manner intended to assassinate the character of their son. Whats your response to that . We have given you everything that we have now and everything that we can give you. So thats. From our Police Department, we have everything weve got. Theres nothing else i can give you. What about the timing of the relese of this video . . . And by that night, news of the videos release had spread. It was the Police Response that made National News but the wider, underlying story we began to hear was about an anger that had started long before mike brown. This city keeps the black people down. Ferguson, i get harassed on the daily. Its f aked up laws, its fucked up s at, its harassment that go on every f aking day including myself. Including these black males. When you feel like a target. When you feel like a f aking target how the f ak you gonna react . And thats some real s at the shooting of mike brown sparked something in ferguson. Why did it happen here . On the surface, the city looks like any quiet american suburb. But in the southeast corner of the city limits there are densely populated apartment complexes. This is where Michael Brown lived. And this street is where he was walking the day he was killed. What exactly happened the day he encountered Darren Wilson here, remains unknown, but whats clear is that they were two people from two very different worlds. This area has a high concentration of poverty and residents say its heavily patrolled by police. Its predominantly African American. And its typical of the way many places in the st louis area are divided along racial and economic lines. A divide that young men like mike brown say means almost constant interaction with police. You were hit with bullet . No a rubber bullet. Look what night . Look you got hit with those . Yeah which day was that . It was the first day. The first day was monday. Solomon, ronald and miller are all from northern st louis county and have been out protesting the Michael Brown shooting. But it wasnt just about Michael Brown, they told us. They were angry at about something more profound than that. They just harass, they just treat you like you dont belong. Who do . The police . Yea, the police . Weve got two strikes black and male. So all we got to do is a miss a blinker and were stressed out in the middle of the street. Thats what people say . Two strikes . You make a face at a cop, strike 3 youre out. Youre going to jail for something. What these young men were talking about is more than just a perception of unfair treatment from police. They have no connection to them culturally, other than as Police Officers patrolling the area and enforcing the law. Adolphus pruitt is head of the local naacp chapter which filed a federal civil rights complaint in late 2013 against the St Louis County Police for disproportionately targeting blacks. A young black kid can live in an urban area and when he leaves his house and hes going for a walk, or hes going to work, hes going to school, hes subjected to be stopped by the police, hes subjected to be questioned, hes subjected to have to show identification, hes subjected to be run through the system to see if he has any outstanding warrants. And then after all of that, they can say ok, you can go ahead. And in some cases it happens for no reason at all. Even if they avoid the police, these young men have other odds stacked against them the Unemployment Rate for African Americans in this county is three times that of whites. Among black males aged 16 to 24, the Unemployment Rate here in the last few years has reached nearly 50 percent. We comin back to losing hope. What do we have to bank on after school . I went to college and got my medical assistant. I wanted to be in the medical field. They found out i had a felony, guess what happened . I spent 20 thousand dollars for nothing. I get my hands dirty workin on cars now. How does that make you feel . Like a bag of s at. What im supposed to do . Does it make you angry . Hell yeah st louis is probably one of the most segregated communities in the country, both racially and socioeconomically. As africanamericans move in, whites move out. And what happens also with that is that some of the highest paying jobs, some of the best of the Living Conditions go with them. So you have somebody who cant find a job, you have somebody whos been marginalized in society and then 3 or 4 times a week you get hassled by the police. I mean common how much can a young person stand who doesnt necessarily have the tools to deal with some of the stuff. And sometime it comes up pretty raw. That has to do with some systemic, racial issue that need to be resolved. What people here told us is that Police Shootings like Michael Browns are the most violent examples of a system of Law Enforcement that unfairly targets black people. African americans in the st. Louis area are disproportionately stopped and searched by police on a regular basis. Many of those ticketed come from lowincome backgrounds. They can end up in court for minor offenses. Leading to a spiral of debt that is sometimes difficult to escape. Brake lights are 100 driving while suspended is 200 the insurance is 100 you got 100 on each of the failure to appear. 10 on the seatbelt. See the clerk at the window. It is almost always the case that the judge, and the prosecutor, and the police are white, and the defendants are black. Almost always not every time almost always. Thomas harvey is a local st louis lawyer. He says some municipalities get more than 30 percent of their revenue from fines that target mainly lowerincome residents. It looks loke you have a payment due this evening. Is that correct . Yes sir. That is correct. They are facing daily choices regarding their poverty, that it makes sense not to pay to get the car registered, because youre trying to keep your light bill on. And if thats your choice, its always going to make sense to pay your light bill, feed your kids, pay your rent, before you go get the vehicle registered. I would call it a daily, lowlevel harassment by your government. So psychologically, i think its a devastating effect. I gotta strategize before i come out of the house every day. I gotta figure out what not to do to get the polices attention, especially living in spanish lake i get stopped just walking to pick up my kids form school. So i gotta figure out which route should i take with less police. Solomon himself has become stuck in a cycle of tickets and fines that he cant get out of. My kids still gotta get to the doctors, i still got doctors appointments. Still gotta go to the Grocery Store so yeah, i drive illegal. Every day. Illegal how, what do you mean . No license. Because ferguson wants 3200 to get it back from a 15yearold speeding ticket. How am i supposed to pay that back when wont nobody hire me . I cant pay that back. For solomon as for many in this community, mike brown was a tragic outcome a symbol of an entire system thats unfairly tilted against black communities. In a white neighborhood, if a cop catches a kid stealing in a store hes probably gonna take them to mom and dad. Thats it. Take em to mom and dads house. We dont get those chances. We get shot down. Its different. The laws are different. This world is not for us. America anyways, nothing for us. Pushing the boundaries of science. We are on the tipping point. We can save species. Its the biggest question out there. Its a revolutionary approach. We are pushing the boundaries. Techknow is going to blow your mind. Our experts go inside the innovations, impacting you. This is the first time anybodys done this. I really feel my life changing. Techknow, where Technology Meets humanity. Only on al Jazeera America. By late august, a grand jury convened by the st louis county prosecutor began deliberations on whether to indict Darren Wilson, the officer who shot mike brown. The department of justice and the fbi also launched federal investigations into the shooting and the practices of fergusons Police Department. But while officials promised the community that justice would be done, we began hearing stories about other Police Shootings in the area. Shootings were the case never went before a grand jury and where the officers involved had been exonerated, shootings that had barely even made the news. Who wrote that . Probably one of carys friends. In april 2013, St Louis Police tried pull over 25year old cary ball jr for a traffic violation. Cary, who was carrying an illegal weapon, fled the scene first in his car and then by foot. Two officers chased him in pursuit. And at that point, gun in his hand and police say he was pointing at them . The police say yeah. Allegedly. Thats what they say and the witnesses have a diff story. The witnesses say gun was on the ground and cary had his hands up. That hed dropped the gun and hed turned around and his hands were up in the air. It wasnt how the police want to try to explain it. Points the gun. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang it wasnt a bang bang thing, it was just stop. Threw the gun. Hands up, then he was shot. Cary never fired a shot, and the lawyers told us none of the 10 witnesses questioned say cary pointed a gun at the officers. Cary was struck at least 21 times. The familys lawyers say ballistic evidence suggests the police kept shoting as they stood over him. See that spot there . Yeah. There it is right there. Yeah so just come on back this one as well right . Yep thats that one here you need that one down there this is from where the officers were pointing straight down. So that went through carys body the St Louis Police department cleared the officers of any wrongdoing. An fbi review agreed with their findings. We requested comment from the police regarding carys case but received no response. In the wake of mike brown, carlos and his family are hoping for an independent investigation. The police could say you could still pose a threat while youre on the ground. Doesnt matter if youre down. You can still kill a Police Officer. Ok so hes down. Youve got 4 shots in him now. Is he still a threat shoot him 4, 5 more times, thats 8 is he still a threat . Shoot him 4, 5 more times after that, thats 12. Is he still a threat . So now, youre deliberating now. Now youve got time to think what youre doing. After 4, shots yea caught up in the moment. But the continuous onslaught of the shots mean your thinking now. Youve got time to think. Youve got time to deliberate. Youve got time to stand down. This picture right here was from carys last bithday. That was at his 25th birthday. And this was down at the party that they had that evenig whos this . Thats my mom, which ones cary . Thats my little brother kevin and thats cary. This is him . Cary was an honors student at a local Community College one year from graduation. Were you close . Very close. He was my best friend. Were just a year apart. We almost did like everything together. There was more to cary than what, you know the media wants to say, just because he had, cant judge people just because he had a record. On the news they showed that one day, and then boom it went away. 25yearold male pointed a gun at an officer, shot and killed. Now sports. Its like anything that black males do is punishable by death. Put em down. We are not treated fairly i dont believe by the police period. For over 3 months, fault lines has requested to speak to the st louis city police, the St Louis County Police, and the ferguson Police Departments. They all declined. But police in another local municipality called hazelwood did agree to take us out on patrol. This is Nick Lawrence hes been a Police Officer for 13 years. He says in a situation where police feel in danger there is little time to deliberate. Its the adrenaline bump. Its the tunnel vision. Its the loss of fine motor skills. We asked nick what many in the community have been questioning since mike browns death the readiness of police to use deadly force. He tells us their training actually calls for it. Were trained to shoot center mass to stop the threat. So if you are a. Center mass . Center mass. The center mass of the body. So basically the chest, does that make sense . When the threat is stopped, then you can go back to preserving life. But if your life is in danger, youre not expected to worry about the person whose trying to put your life in danger. Youre worried about his wellbeing until hes not, hes no longer a threat. Suddenly nick spots something down the street its a traffic stop. It was the sort of minor violation wed been hearing people complaining about. He hadnt registered his vehicle so well see what that is. You got a truck plate on your charger here. This is nice by the way. Whats up, you havent had a chance to get it registered yet or did you just get it . Yeah. I just got it. The driver also happened to be black. In 2013, over half of hazelwoods stops were African American drivers, while they only make up only about 30 of the citys p