On Wednesday volunteers packed up the candles, stuffed animals and other memorabilia placed at Michael Brown’s makeshift memorial in Ferguson, Mo., because they were posing a public safety hazard, the Associated Press reports. But Brown’s father and Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III said that a permanent memorial would soon be installed at an outdoor site near where Brown died.
Brown’s father, Michael Brown Sr., was at the scene while his son’s temporary memorial was being dismantled. Brown Sr. held a metallic plaque that he says will be erected at his son’s permanent memorial. The plaque contains an inscription of a prayer, AP reports, and commemorates the fatal shooting of an unarmed Brown by a white police officer in August.
The plaque will contain a likeness of Brown in a graduation cap and gown, along with an inscription that will read as follows:
I would like the memory of Michael Brown to be a happy one. He left an afterglow of smiles when life was done. He leaves an echo whispering softly down the ways, of happy and loving times and bright and sunny days.
He’d like the tears of those who grieve to dry before the sun of happy memories that he left behind when life was done.
There were some in the community who opined that the makeshift site should remain intact, but Brown Sr. spoke at the scene and argued that its removal was the first step toward moving forward.
“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about my son,” Brown Sr. said. “We’re just really trying to move forward. It just needs to be moved.”
Mayor Knowles said that Brown’s permanent memorial would be located on private property nearby.
Read more at ABC News.