Rally Against Hate In Greenport Draws Crowd: Photos

GREENPORT, NY — Carrying signs and speaking from the heart, a crowd gathered in Greenport's Mitchell Park Sunday night to take a strong and passionate stand against Saturday's acts of violence and hatred in Charlottesville, VA.

The impromptu rally against hate was organized by Christine McFall and Jim Shaw. "I'm just trying to do what we are all called to do," Shaw said. "We're all just trying to do what we can."

McFall said the gathering was organized in response to the events of the past few days and began as just a casual mention on Facebook after the Women's March organization put out a call for solidarity. Surveying the large crowd coming together to speak out for unity and love in the face of hate, McFall said, "It's amazing. Unbelievable."

Former Greenport Village Mayor David Nyce and his wife Jennifer Benton were in attendance. "You have to show support for a rational way of life," he said, adding that acceptance and tolerance of people's differences are critical.

Lori Hollander said she was "appalled by the violence" and of President Donald Trump's response.

And, said Rena Wiseman, her parents were Holocaust survivors. The acts of violence in Charlottesville, she said, "are so heinous to me." Wiseman said the rampant anti-Semitism and Nazism, with images of Hitler and torches, "made my blood boil. My parents suffered" during the Holocaust, she said. "I am furious."

Sonia Spar, co-chair of the Southold Town Anti Bias Task Force, attended the event with her young children.

"It's important that people come together and take the responsibility of saying, 'Hate is not okay,'" she said. "We need to stand up against it. It's important to send a message, to teach your children, because our children are watching."

Carolyn Peabody of the Southold ABTF said the group had united to stand together and to protect the vulnerable, as well as to support the people of Charlottesville, sending a united message and raising a strong voice against the "hate bigotry, and violence. This is unacceptable," she said. "This is a democracy."

Added Loretta Hatzel-Geraci of the North Fork Parish Outreach, "We cannot stay quiet." It's necessary, she said, "to drown out," the rising voices of bigotry and hatred.

White supremacists are "emboldened" by acts of hatred such as Saturday's violent event, Spar said. "It's justifying it and making it normal," she said.

Speaking as a young woman who has grown up locally, Samantha Payne-Markel said she was "disappointed, disillusioned, frustrated and feeling helpless" that the alleged culprit behind Saturday's violence was 20 years old, a member of her generation.

"My generation generation needs to speak up," she said. Her friends and co-workers believe in love and hate but, all too often, it's easier to go out with friends than to organize and raise their voices in support of unity and peace, she said.

Payne-Markel said she hoped Sunday's gathering was the first of many and said she hoped to see Mitchell Park filled in the future, with crowds uniting and saying, "This is not okay."

Recent events are disheartening, she added. "We're just going so far backward."

Payne-Markel had the crowd cheering when she said, "I'm not an activist. But, I guess — now I am."

Communication and talking together is the best way to fight back intolerance, Jess Dunne said.

Tom McGriel said standing up with intellect was needed to fight ignorance and intolerance.

A Southerner, Chris Muth, said acts of "cowardice" were not something a Southern gentleman would ever engage in; he would hit a woman, much less send a car careening into a crowd, he said.

Sherry Thirlby, who said she'd worked hard locally to make a difference in the world, found herself overwhelmed by Saturday's events. "I lost hope," she said. But watching communities come together and organize similar gatherings, she said, sparked renewed fervor. "My hope is renewed," she said.

McFall told the crowd, "Stay strong. "We've got this."

Greenport Village Trustee Julia Roberts said she came not in her official capacity, but as "a human," who had come to "bear witness" and reject the acts of hatred. "We, the people of the United States, find this unacceptable," she said.

Caroline Waloski said she grew up in World War II and never thought she'd see such acts of racism and bigotry on American soil. "I"m so upset," she said.

One little boy, dressed in a superhero costume, had a simple message that conveyed what everyone present was feeling, with full hearts: "My name is Jack and I'm 5," he said. "America is for everybody."

Photos by Lisa Finn.

Video by Jess Dunne.