I have to say this, about people complaining that Brown was being demonized and it is of no relevance whatsoever that he wasn't the young man his mother said he was.
When this first happened, and his mother was yelling to the reporter that he tried to do what was right, he graduated from high school (do you know how many young black boys graduate from high school? not many) and he was going on to college and despite that he was STILL GUNNED DOWN in the streets. All of his tremendous efforts to make something of himself, against all odds, were of no use and now he was dead on the street.
Well that just broke my heart. That kind of hopelessness and despair broke my heart. And I think it broke everyone's heart who saw that scene - and that caused people to righteously riot. It's awful.
But it wasn't true. He was shot for attacking a cop after robbing a store. Much less heartbreaking story, from where I sit.