New Westminster residents are invited to stand together against racism and hate.
Jen Ryan, Alice Cavanagh and Babs Kelly are inviting community members to join them at a New West United demonstration in Moody Park on Thursday, Aug. 17 at 7 p.m.
The event is in response to last weekend’s violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, where white nationalists, neo-Nazis and white supremists gathered for a Unite the Right march and clashed with counter-protesters. One woman died and others were injured after a vehicle driven by one of the white nationalists plowed into a crowd of people protesting against the Unite the Right march.
“We have brainstormed an idea to meet in the middle of Moody Park and have an open-mic session to give everybody an opportunity to denounce racism,” Ryan told the Record. “I am becoming more and more terrified every day that America is headed for an all-out civic war and we need to - we being regular white middle class people - step up and do our part and get on the frontlines.”
Ryan is hoping a large and diverse crowd will attend Thursday’s action for equality, diversity and community.
“It’s very important to take a stand,” she said. “It’s very important to show marginalized groups that have been doing the groundwork that we are here to support and do the necessary work.”
In January, New Westminster MLA Judy Darcy organized a #NewWestUnited rally against bigotry and hate after neo-Nazi posters were found in the area around Queens Avenue and Sixth Street. Organizers of Thursday’s event have adopted the New West United moniker for the gathering.
“We need to do that more often, not just when tragedy strikes,” Ryan said of taking a stand against racism. “We need to be ready.”
In the days since the protests in Charlottesville, U.S. President Donald Trump has been criticized for comments suggesting “there is blame on both sides” of the violence in Charlottesville and counter-protesters were responsible for some of the violence and not all of the alt-right group that included neo-Nazis and members of the Ku Klux Klan were bad people. Along with many Americans, former presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush issued a statement stating America “must always reject racial bigotry, antisemitism and hatred in all its forms” following the comments made by Trump.
“I think it is absolutely something we should be concerned about,” Ryan said of Canadians. “I think Americans have always had a habit of saying that this is something that happens elsewhere or happened in the past. It certainly crept up on them. We have seen people running for office that don’t seem too opposed to Trump’s views. I think it is something we need to be aware can happen here and we need to prevent it long before it happens.”
