Michael Brown's family still in agony a year after his death

The father of a U.S. black teenager whose shooting death by police triggered nationwide riots and reflection said Saturday that the family is still in great agony.

Several events are planned to commemorate the tragedy in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, where Michael Brown lived and was killed by white police officer Darren Wilson during a confrontation on Aug. 9, 2014.

Brown's death stirred up a nationwide spate of protests -- some of which turned into riots -- and soul-searching, which has continued as one black suspect after another died controversially at the hands of police.

In the meantime, it also helped spur what is called the "Black Lives Matter" movement.

Brown's father, Michael Brown Sr., who led a commemorative march, said the anniversary brought back all the grief and raw emotions.

"At the end of the day, I still lost my boy," he said. "I'm still hurting. My family's still hurting."

Anger still lingers on a year after Brown was killed. Neither a grand jury nor federal justice officials called for criminal charges against Wilson.

The U.S. Justice Department and a St. Louis County grand jury cleared Wilson, who resigned in November, of wrongdoing. Evidence from an independent investigation team showed that the court system is profit-driven and racial bias is common among policemen.

Racism has remained alarmingly pervasive in U.S. society even though the country is now run by its first black president. That is probably the ugliest and most embarrassing look the self-styled world leader has been trying to avoid displaying to the rest of the world.

According to a research by the U.S. Justice Department, the Ferguson police force, largely white, has for years systematically bullied and harassed the majority black citizens, using traffic stops and other arrests for minor violations to collect fines.

Brown's father said a lot of families in the St. Louis area and across the United States are hurting because they have lost loved ones to police violence. Though some groups are pledging civil disobedience in the St. Louis region, Brown urged everyone to mark his son's death in peace.

"No drama," he said. "No stupidity, so we can just have some kind of peace." Endi