SANTA CRUZ — Protesters decrying hatred and racism converged around the country on Sunday, saying people felt compelled to counteract the white supremacist rally that spiraled into deadly violence in Virginia Saturday.
The gatherings spanned from a march to President Donald Trump’s home in New York to candlelight vigils in several cities including Watsonville and Santa Cruz. In Santa Cruz more than 200 people converged on the town clock in a noisy but peaceful rally to voice opinions, wave banners, and chant about the racially charged issue in Virginia.
“It’s just disturbing to me what our country has come to,” said Helene Simkin Jara of Santa Cruz. “These violent events are devastating to our country and community spirit. We can do better than this.”
Some people focused on showing support for the people whom white supremacists condemn. Other demonstrations were pushing for the removal of Confederate monuments, the issue that initially prompted white nationalists to gather in anger this weekend in Charlottesville, Va. Still other gatherings aimed to denounce fascism and a presidential administration that organizers feel has let white supremacists feel empowered.
“People need to wake up, recognize that and resist it as fearlessly as it needs to be done,” said Carl Dix, a leader of the Refuse Fascism group organizing demonstrations in New York, San Francisco and other cities. “This can’t be allowed to fester and to grow because we’ve seen what happened in the past when that was allowed.”
“It has to be confronted,” said Dix, a New Yorker who spoke by phone from Charlottesville Sunday afternoon. He had gone there to witness and deplore the white nationalist rally on a Saturday that spiraled into bloodshed.
In Denver, several hundred demonstrators gathered beneath a statue of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in City Park and marched about two miles to the state Capitol. In Fort Collins, Colorado, marchers chanted “Everyone is welcome here. No hate, no fear.” One demonstrator’s sign said, “Make racists ashamed again.”
In New York, protesters marched from several locations in Manhattan to Trump Tower, demanding the president denounce white nationalist groups involved in the violent confrontations in Charlottesville. One sign read: “Call out evil.”
Numerous people from Watsonville also rallied at the Watsonville Plaza, flashing colorful banners and chanting slogans.
A crowd gathered on the Charlottesville street where the fatal crash happened for a vigil Sunday evening. They sang “Amazing Grace” and prayed around piles of flowers that mark the spot where Heather Heyer was killed.
Prominent white nationalist Richard Spencer, who attended the rally, denied all responsibility for the violence. He blamed the counter-protesters and police.
Trump condemned what he called an “egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides,” a statement that Democrats and some of the president’s fellow Republicans saw as equivocating about who was to blame. The White House later added that the condemnation “includes white supremacists, KKK, neo-Nazi and all extremist groups.”
