Michael Brown's death a decade ago set off a new chapter of social change

NEW YORK — There have been moments before, times of heartbreak and grief that led to anger and calls for justice. Sometimes, they never make it past a few sparks. Sometimes they smolder for a little bit before dying out. And sometimes, in certain conditions, they light a fire.

Ten years ago, in August 2014, that was the case when a white police officer shot and killed Black 18-year-old Michael Brown on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri.

Coming just weeks after the July 2014 chokehold death of Eric Garner at the hands of New York City police, in a country where the nascent push of Black Lives Matter was still reeling after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the 2012 fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, the protests over Brown’s death and the heavily armed law enforcement response to them erupted in the nation’s consciousness.

It set off a new chapter in the United States’ fraught civil rights history, bringing a spotlight to longstanding issues of race and police use of force. And in doing so, it created space for ripple effects to fan out in the years after – not just in conversations about race and policing, but about race and well, everything; about protest and what it should or shouldn’t look like and who is allowed to engage in it, about equality and fairness in all kinds of directions.

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This story is part of an AP series exploring the impact, legacy and ripple effects of what is widely called the Ferguson uprising.