Ferguson Events Hit Home For Montgomery Man
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The events taking place in Ferguson, Missouri, where a black teenager named Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white police officer, are hitting very close to home for one Montgomery man.
His father was killed by Montgomery police in 1975.
Bernard Whitehurst was only two months old when his father, also named Bernard Whitehurst, was shot.
It’s something that he thinks about every day.
This is the only picture that Bernard Whitehurst III has of his father.
He was mistaken for a robbery suspect and shot by montgomery police in December 1975. Officers then planted a gun by his body.
The attempted cover up led to the resignation of the mayor and several police officers.
Almost 40 years later, Whitehurst says it still hurts.
“It took a long time for me to speak on it. It kind of hurts because that’s something you always want is your dad. It bothers me to this day because I can never say me and my dad did this, me and my dad did that,” said Whitehurst.
He says he looks at the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson and can’t help but remember what happened to his father.
He doesn’t understand why there’s so much violence.
“You do not have to shoot and kill them. That’s the biggest thing. It shouldn’t be where you shoot to kill. It’s like right now you shoot to kill.”
The City of Montgomery unveiled a historical marker last year to remember the tragic events surrounding Bernard Whitehurst’s death.
Every police officer learns about that case and other parts of the city’s past in the academy.
Director of Public Safety Chris Murphy says we can’t forget what has happened here, no matter how bad they are.
“I think because we do not forget that and we are very much aware of the bus boycott and we’re aware of the freedom riders, we’re very much aware of the things that happen, Todd Road, any of these instances that happen. We choose not to quote sweep them under the rug, that we have become a stronger community for that,” said Murphy.
Whitehurst says he is still looking for justice.
He says none of the officers involved in the shooting ever served any jail time.
