Peekskill rally calls for justice in Ferguson

• About 60 demonstrators gathered Wednesday evening in Peekskill.
• They stood in front of Sen. Charles Schumer%27s regional office.
• They called for a congressional hearing into Michael Brown%27s killing in Ferguson%2C Missouri.

PEEKSKILL – They may have been standing on a Peekskill sidewalk Wednesday evening but their hearts and minds were in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri, where a dozen days ago police shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager.

With chants of "Hands up, Don't Shoot," about 60 protesters — black and white, young and old, male and female — demonstrated against Brown's killing and other police killings of unarmed people of color.

The sidewalk on Park Street was in front of Sen. Charles Schumer's regional office and the demonstrators called on him to hold congressional hearings on such violence.

"We want him to stand up for black people that are dying, for brown people, Latinos, that are dying at the hands of police," said local activist and radio host Darrell Davis, who organized the demonstration.

The gathering came on the same day that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder traveled to Missouri for briefings on the Aug. 9 shooting, which has led to nights of angry protests.

Holder said the Justice Department's federal civil rights inquiry would be "thorough and fair."

The building housing Schumer's office sits a block south of Main Street and also contains a Social Security office. Protesters stood outside for at least an hour. Afterward, Schumer released a statement through a spokesman.

"Losing a young person, like Michael Brown, is always tragic," he said. "A full investigation into the circumstances of this event is underway and I hope they soon ferret out all the facts, and that those facts allow impartial justice to be achieved."

Among the demonstrators was Iris Chadwick of New Haven, Connecticut, a junior at Manhattanville College in Purchase.

"I'm here for unity and to stop police brutality, especially against youth of color," she said.

USA TODAY contributed to this report