BOWLING GREEN — It was a show of solidarity for a far-away community racked by racist violence, but also a stand of defiance against the hate that lives among us.

About 200 people gathered Sunday afternoon on the Wooster Green at Church and Wooster streets for a “Rally to Protect Freedom,” about a day after a car allegedly driven by a Toledo-area man slammed into a crowd of anti-racist and anti-fascist protesters in Charlottesville, Va.

James A. Fields, Jr., 20, of Maumee, is believed to have driven to Charlottesville to join a white-supremacist rally centered around the city’s plan to remove a Robert E. Lee monument.

That the man who killed one protester and injured at least 19 more apparently came from northwest Ohio increased the urgency of the event for attendees, but as several African-American speakers pointed out, also served as a stark reminder that racism is systemic, that bigotry is built into the United States, but that it need not be that way.

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Beatrice Fields, 21, said that while Saturday’s events may be shocking to white allies, it’s a daily experience for America’s marginalized communities. She issued a call to action, and challenged attendees to not just listen to black voices, but to actively support them, giving tangible support to those targeted by white supremacists.

“White nationalists have come to Bowling Green before,” Ms. Fields said. “We best believe they will come back.”

The rally’s signs and speeches showed that participants were not just calling out the overt racism on display in Charlottesville over the weekend, but also what they believe is rhetoric and actions of President Trump that have enabled a rise in white-supremacist groups, as well as a strengthened right wing that refers to itself as the alt-right.

One sign said “The Alt Right is All Wrong.” Another declared that “Hate doesn’t make America great again,” a play off of the President’s campaign slogan.

City Councilman Daniel Gordon, one of the rally’s organizers, said the President won’t specifically condemn neo-Nazis “because he supports them.”

“This time, it was someone from Maumee,” Mr. Gordon said. “The next time, it could be a person from Bowling Green.”

Allie Dyer, 27, pointed to the Constitution’s codification of slavery, the mass incarceration of black and brown people, and the daily reminders of white supremacy in the United States as a reality that many white people want to ignore, but are concrete evidence of systemic oppression.

“We know that we will live and die in racism,” Ms. Dyer said.

Joe Boyle, a Toledo Public Schools history teacher, reminded attendees that northwest Ohio residents gave their lives to fight against slavery, racial oppression, and fascism in the Civil War and World War II, and that our history can remind us of our faults, but also of our heroes.

Several people called on participants to find avenues of direct action locally.

Julian Mack, a leader of the Community Solidarity Response Network, said no one should be surprised the attacker came from here, and lamented that it is considered by some to be controversial to stand against Nazis. Everyone should use their own talents to both support each other and to stand against bigots and racists, he said.

“Everywhere is ground zero,” said Mr. Mack, who led the group in a chant of, “Don’t just stand there, do something.”

Karen Wood led a call to have the Wood County Fair ban Confederate flags. She said she was told by fair officials to “get used to it” when she complained about a vendor selling the flags.

“I refuse to get used to it,” she said.

A Maumee march is scheduled for Monday at 7 p.m., starting at the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library Maumee Branch, 501 River Rd., and ending at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church at Conant and Broadway streets.

Contact Nolan Rosenkrans at nrosenkrans@theblade.com, or 419-724-6086 or on Twitter @NolanRosenkrans.

First Published August 13, 2017, 11:56 p.m.