Funeral of U.S. black teenager draws over 1,000, racism back in focus

More than 1,000 people on Saturday attended the funeral of the black Texas teenager who was fatally shot by a white police officer in a contentious burglary incident, as U.S. racial divide exposed in the tragedy and similar incidents gained renewed attention.

Christian Taylor, a Texas college football player and a 19-year-old black, was remembered at a church in the northern Texas city of Arlington.

Taylor's teammates from Angelo State University where he played football said he was a person full of energy who had much to offer.

Former Arlington police officer Brad Miller was fired for his poor judgement in shooting unarmed Taylor, who was said to have broken into a car dealership and vandalized cars.

The 49-year-old white had no police experience before joining the department last September after graduation from the police academy in March that year. He fired his weapon four times after an altercation with Taylor and killed him at scene.

On Tuesday, Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson said Miller made a series of bad decisions in communicating with fellow officers and approached Taylor alone with no intention of arresting him.

Among five other officers who were at scene, Miller's training officer Corporal Dale Wiggins tried to use a Taser to contain the suspect, said Johnson, adding that the police department is preparing a criminal case against Miller.

Taylor's death came on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the Ferguson unrest trigger by the killing of a black teenager Michael Brown by a white policeman.

The both obvious and latent racism that has not stopped even after the United States elected its first black president is probably the ugliest and most embarrassing face the world's richest country refrain from displaying to the rest of the world.

The one-year Ferguson anniversary, coupled with Taylor's death, helped spur what is called the "Black Lives Matter" movement.

The victim's brother Adrian Taylor, tears welling up in eyes, described Christian as "a competitor and a fighter who did not want to be left behind." Endi