Benjamin Brown (activist)
Benjamin Brown was an African-American student at Jackson State University active in the civil rights movement, killed on campus during a standoff between law enforcement and students. Upon encountering the standoff after picking up a sandwich from a cafe to bring back to his wife, he was shot by two stray shotgun blasts from law enforcement firing into the crowd. No arrests were ever made.
In 2001, a Hinds County grand jury reviewed the case and blamed two deceased officers: Jackson police Buddy Kane and Mississippi Highway Patrolman Lloyd Jones. The brown family filed a lawsuit and settled for $50,000 from the city of Jacksonville. There has been no marker on the JSU campus recognizing the events that took place.
Since then the Southern Poverty Law Center has commemorated Benjamin Brown as a civil rights martyr on a memorial designed by Maya Lin.
