The news of Attorney General Eric Holder’s departure broke as relatives of black men killed in encounters with police gathered in Washington, D.C., to call for the Justice Department to investigate and charge the officers involved. Lesley McSpadden, the mother of Michael Brown, and Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, who was placed in an illegal police chokehold in New York, said local systems have failed to bring justice.

Gwen Carr: “The police in our case, they’re sitting back. They’re still walking the street. They’re still getting paid. They said they took their gun and badge, but so what?”

Lesley McSpadden: “I’m here in Washington to ask for help in getting justice for my son in Missouri. Missouri has not shown us anything that we’re looking for.”