New England hosted a number of vigils and demonstrations Sunday in response to a white supremacist rally that turned deadly in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a counter protestor was killed and 19 others were injured.
Rhode Island
In Rhode Island, hundreds of people gathered for a candlelight vigil in front of the Rhode Island State House, while South Kingstown and Newport held simultaneous gatherings.
Gov. Gina Raimondo and U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse denounced the Charlottesville rally calling it “shameful” on Facebook.
Sen. Jack Reed took to Twitter to urge President Donald Trump to condemn what he called a “bigotry parade.”
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Massachusetts
About a thousand people showed up in Northampton, Massachusetts to protest the white nationalist demonstration. Eduardo Samaniego, a student at Hampshire College, was among the speakers. He said he is undocumented and the events in Charlottesville underscore the need for immigration reform.
“That is how we address white supremacy, that is how we beat these Nazis, by showing up and never being quiet,” Samaniego said to a cheering crowd.
Organizers also held rallies in Boston.
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Connecticut
Demonstrations in Connecticut included West Hartford, Willimantic, New Haven, Danbury and Bridgeport.
At the gathering in West Hartford, Gov. Dannel Malloy addressed a crowd of several hundred, calling for a moment of silence for the people who were killed over the weekend in Virginia, in the wake of two days of demonstrations by white supremacists groups.
Malloy also criticized the leadership of President Donald Trump.
“We can’t go to political rallies and say, ‘Why don’t you rough that person up?’ Malloy said. “We can’t have leaders say, ‘Well maybe we should rough up people that we’re arresting.’ We can’t have leaders who don’t understand that they must denounce this every single day that they are alive.”
The Connecticut and Massachusetts reports come from the New England News Collaborative, eight public media companies coming together to tell the story of a changing region, with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
