claim: A photograph shows a protester holding a "No mother should have to fear for her son's life every time he robs a store" sign in front of a fire station in Ferguson, Missouri.
origin: In August 2014, an unarmed 18-year-old black man named Michael Brown was shot to death by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, after Brown allegedly robbed a convenience store, an event that sparked widespread unrest and protests in Ferguson and elsewhere. Three months later, a photograph showing a Ferguson, Missouri, protester holding a sign reading â€œNo mother should have to fear for her sonâ€™s life every time he robs a storeâ€ was posted to the photo-sharing site Imgur on 27 November 2014 along with the following message: < The black community has every reason to be angry with the police, and the brutality they inflict. But making a martyr out of the kid that robbed a store and attacked a police officer is just mind boggling. Micheal Brown is one of the worst things to happen to race relations in a long time. > Although the photograph does depict three protesters standing outside a fire department in Ferguson, Missouri, the wording on the sign has been altered. The original photograph was taken by Mitch Ryals and was published in the Riverfront Times on 1 October 2014. That picture documents that the message on the sign carried by the center protester actually read: â€œNo mother should have to fear for her sonâ€™s life every time he leaves homeâ€: The Imgur user who posted the manipulated image eventually admitted to it, writing: â€œYes, I shopped this. It captured mine, and many others, frustration with this whole situation.â€