Michael Brown's mother told the NAACP's "Journey for Justice" crowd during Friday's Capitol rally that she and her family are grateful for the support and love they've received, since her son was killed in Ferguson on Aug. 9 by then-police officer Darren Wilson.
Lesley McSpadden had not been scheduled to speak at the rally to end the week-long march from Ferguson to the Capitol - but rally organizers quickly adjusted their plans so the crowd could hear her.
"We've watched this play out, unfairly and non-transparent, for months," McSpadden said. "We're here to ask the government, and the governor, to live up to what we expect them to do for the people."
The crowd, estimated at more than 150 people, applauded McSpadden's charge that "what (Wilson) did that day to my son was not right - it was very wrong - and I want him to be held accountable for what he did."
She also drew applause for saying Gov. Jay Nixon should hold St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCullough "responsible for what he did - and didn't do!"
Rod Chapel, president of Jefferson City's NAACP branch and a lawyer, explained after the rally: "McCullough's got a bad reputation - and it's been that way for a long time - in terms of his close-knit affiliations with law enforcement.
"And nothing's wrong with that - unless it skews your professional duties and your ability to do that work."
Many African Americans contend that McCullough ran the St. Louis County grand jury in a way that gave Wilson an unfair advantage, compared with the way grand juries usually operate.
This week's march to Jefferson City was prompted, in part, by that grand jury's decision nearly two weeks ago not to indict Wilson for murder in Brown's death.
National NAACP President Cornell William Brooks told the rally the "grand jury process was completely, morally and legally bankrupt."
As she was ending her brief remarks during the rally, McSpadden choked up as she said, "All lives matter!"
That was a phrase repeated several times during the hour-long rally in the Rotunda.
Brooks said the marchers want "nothing less than systemic, fundamental reform of policing in this country."
He argued that, "When African American young men are 21 times more likely to lose their lives at the hands of police officers than their white counterparts, there is something morally wrong!"
In addition, he said, one in every four African American young men report "that, in the last month, they have been mistreated by the police - (and) there is something morally and legally wrong" with that.
"We march because all, all, all, all lives matter!" he shouted, to cheers from the crowd.
Brooks noted the 130-mile march occurred in all kinds of weather.
Until justice is achieved and society is changed, he said, the NAACP will continue to march.
Roslyn Brock, chairman of the NAACP's National Board of Directors, urged the crowd to be "fired up! I want you to have righteous indignation, that lives are taken from us far too early!"
But, she added: "I want you to think about the consequences of your actions, because too many folks died for the right for us to be here."
Brock, 49, has been a national board member for 30 years and, in February 2010, became the youngest person ever, and only the fourth woman, to be elected as the national board's chairman.
She told the younger members of the crowd: "The time is now, because courage cannot skip this generation.
"It's your time to stand up - the baton is being passed to a new generation of social justice advocates."
Still, she said, marchers should not forget those who led the civil rights efforts of the 1950s, '60s and '70s "to move this nation forward, not backwards."
One man, who identified himself as Michael Hassle, delayed the start of the rally with a complaint that the NAACP marchers shouldn't take too much pride "in marching 100-and-something miles, when we've been out there protesting for over 100-and-something days!"
The Rev. Cassandra Gould, pastor of Jefferson City's Quinn Chapel AME Church, told the crowd she understands the "passion" of the younger protesters.
"But one thing that I've realized over the last 117 days," she said, "we all have different expressions of how we deal with the anger, the hurt and the frustration.
"But we're all trying to seek the same justice."
And, she emphasized, the young and old were joined together in a common cause.
She urged reporters to "tell the story that these are not the looters, but these are those who have, literally, put their lives on the line so that they could save other young black people - it hasn't just been about Mike Brown."
Nixon was at an event in Joplin on Friday afternoon and did not attend or hear the rally.
Brooks said it "would have been great for him to be here, particularly to meet and discuss an issue of this magnitude."
But both Nixon and Brooks said Friday that they had met in the governor's office Wednesday night.
In a news release, the governor said: "For over a century, the NAACP has been a strong and powerful voice for justice and equality.
"Through honest dialogue and mutual respect, I'm confident that together we can make meaningful change to address the challenges underlying the events in Ferguson, and build a future of greater peace, opportunity and fairness for all."
In a brief news conference after the rally, Brooks said: "It was a very cordial meeting, where we pressed very vigorously for comprehensive reform, in terms of racial profiling.
"We believe that this is not the kind of thing that can be done in a piecemeal fashion."
Brooks noted that Ferguson has been in the national focus for the last three months.
"The governor, I believe, listened and had an active, engaged discussion," Brooks said. "We had a serious, thoughtful, legal public policy discussion, as well as a moral discussion.
"I was under the impression that he was giving the matter serious consideration."
Also attending Wednesday's meeting were Missouri Public Safety Director Dan Isom, former state Sen. Maida Coleman, D-St. Louis, director of Nixon's new Office of Community Engagement, and Marvin Teer, a Lincoln University curator and former St. Louis judge who is the Community Engagement deputy director, and several NAACP officials - Adolphus Pruitt, St. Louis Branch president; Mary Ratliff, Missouri state president; Carmen Watkins, national Field Operations director for the Western U.S.; Kevin Myles, national Field Operations director for the Eastern U.S.; and Jamiah Adams, Communications and Digital Media vice president.
Coleman had been scheduled to speak on Nixon's behalf at Friday's rally, but - as time was running tightly - gave her scheduled time to Lesley McSpadden, Michael Brown's mother.