Attorney General Eric Holder visits students in Ferguson, vows 'change is coming'

Attorney General Eric Holder visits students in Ferguson, vows &#039;change is coming&#039; — (Image credit: Pool/Getty Images)

During his trip to Ferguson, Missouri, on Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder met with students at St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley, and said that "change is coming."

"He told us we are the future and we need to stay focused on getting our education," student Molyric Welch told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "We talked about how things can be changed, and how it has to start with us, the younger generation," added student Dominique McCoy.

Holder discussed how much attention was being placed on Ferguson, and how the situation had become bigger than the town. "The eyes of the nation and the world are watching Ferguson right now," he said. "This is something that has a history to it, and the history simmers beneath the surface in more communities than just Ferguson." Holder also shared that once, he was pulled over unfairly by a police officer while on his way to the movies. "At the time that he stopped me, I was a federal prosecutor," he said. "I worked at the United States Department of Justice. So I've confronted this myself."

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Holder also met privately with the parents of Michael Brown, and received an update on the pending federal investigation from Department of Justice officials in St. Louis. He squeezed in a meeting with Gov. Jay Nixon (D), Missouri Sens. Claire McCaskill (D) and Roy Blunt (R), and also ran into Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. Ronald S. Johnson, the man who has been trying to defuse protests, at the Drake's Place diner. After Holder left, Johnson said his visit "will show the people of Ferguson and the country that their voices are heard."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.