Ferguson Activist Bassem Masri Dies

Bassem Masri became the latest activist from 2014’s Ferguson, Missouri, protests to die on Tuesday, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Preliminary reports indicated the 31-year-old Palestinian-American died of a massive heart attack, but his official cause of death is still pending, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Masri’s death was preceded by a string of fatalities involving people who participated in Ferguson demonstrations four years ago after the police shooting death of Michael Brown.

“In his short life, he did as much if not more to unite the fight for black liberation and Palestinian liberation,” Masri’s cousin Faizan Syed wrote on Facebook about the activist on Tuesday afternoon. 

“May Allah accept his sacrifices for justice and overlook his flaws and mistakes.”

Funeral services for Masri are scheduled to take place at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the Dar-Al-Jalal Islamic Center in Hazelwood, Missouri, according to Syed.

Masri was a livestreamer before the advent of Periscope or Facebook Live, known for his uncompromising views on police brutality and his anti-racist activism. He didn’t trust the mainstream media to accurately report on the demonstrations taking place in Ferguson before or after the nonindictment of former officer Darren Wilson, who fatally shot Brown. So Masri routinely went out into the streets and broadcasted on the internet for everyone to see.

“I can’t rely on them,” Masri said of the mainstream media in a 2014 video clip tweeted out by St. Louis, Missouri, activist Kayla Reed on Wednesday. “They ain’t gonna say the truth. They ain’t gonna never say the truth. They got their own narrative.”

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