More than 200 people joined a rally on the University of Toledo campus Sunday to voice opposition to the white supremacy movement that surfaced the previous weekend in a violent confrontation with counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Va.
Organizers said in a statement announcing the Toledo rally that “displays of hate, racial bigotry, and violent extremism have no place in our society — and certainly not in Toledo.”
People of all ages joined the event and many joined the chant, “the people united shall never be defeated.”
VIDEO: Rally at University of Toledo to oppose hate, bigotry
Following the walk from Centennial Mall to the edge of campus at Secor Road and Dorr Street and back, participants hung around until dark, swatting mosquitoes and listening to speakers attack racism from the steps of the Lancelot Thompson Student Union.
A Toledo man and Nazi sympathizer is charged with murder for allegedly ramming his car into counter-protesters during the Charlottesville rally on Aug. 12, killing a woman and injuring at least 19. James Alex Fields, Jr., 20, is being held at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail.
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Mike Miller, a student at UT, one of three co-organizers of Sunday’s rally, said the event amounts to a response to what happened in Charlottesville.
“I just thought it was important for the Toledo region as a whole, and it’s important to create platforms so people of color can speak their minds and share their experiences,” he said.
Co-organizer Ruth Leonard, a candidate for Toledo Schools’ Board of Education, said the fact the alleged white supremacist killer was from Toledo shows that there is “homegrown racism, white supremacy and white terrorism.”
She said the purpose of the rally was to call out white supremacy, “and in particular call out white people to acknowledge their privilege and call it out whenever they see racism in their community.”
In her speech before the march, Ms. Leonard led a chant that, "when black lives are under attack, what do we do? Stand up and fight back." She repeated the chant substituting for black lives those of children, women, Muslims, LGBT, and Hispanics.
Co-organizer Kristyn Curnow-Miller, who is married to Mr. Miller and is a student at Bowling Green State University, said she is passionate about Black Lives Matter and the rights of disenfranchised people.
“It’s very important to expel white supremacy and to collectively, as a community, accept everyone of every race, gender and belief,” she said.
Erin Gariepy, 29, an English composition instructor at UT, said the turnout was greater than she expected, and she was glad there was no trouble.
“I was worried about counter-protesters after Charlottesville, but it’s been peaceful,” Ms. Gariepy said. She said that as a person with privilege, that is, white, she felt it was important for her to stand up and face oppression head-on.
UT spokesman Meghan Cunningham, who was on hand, said no permit was required for the assembly. Campus police monitored the march in cars and on bicycles.
Julian Mack, a local community activist, exhorted the crowd during the march by reading the Declaration of Independence, substituting the name of Donald Trump for King George III. Back outside the Student Union building he urged people to act for revolutionary change.
“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is all we’re asking for. It’s simple and we’ve never had it since we’ve been here,” said Mr. Mack, who is African-American.
Toledo lawyer Dave Coyle and his wife, Denise Coyle, said they wanted to state their opposition to President Trump’s statements about white supremacist and neo-Nazi demonstrators in Charlottesville.
“Nazis have no place in our country and they are to be opposed, peacefully,” Mr. Coyle said.
Mr. Trump condemned neo-Nazis and white supremacists, but he also said there were “very fine people” participating in the rally against the removal of a statue depicting Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
Sunday’s rally at UT followed a similar event held in Maumee on Monday, when roughly 350 people gathered at the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library and marched to St. Paul's Episcopal Church. The church is less than five miles from the South Toledo apartment where Mr. Fields lived.
Contact Tom Troy at tomtroy@theblade.com, 419-724-6058 or on Twitter @TomFTroy.
First Published August 20, 2017, 11:16 p.m.
