UNITED WE STAND
Activists show solidarity with victims of Charlottesville protests
TROY, N.Y.» Locals gathered Sunday to stand in solidarity with victims of the previous day’s rally-related incident in Charlottesville, Va.
After a vehicular attack on those counter protesting a white nationalist rally in Virginia left one dead and 19 injured, Troy area activists gathered on Sunday in Monument Square for an event called United We Stand In Solidarity.
“We will stand in peaceful solidarity with the victims of the terrorist act in Virginia today, and with those who suffer hate crimes every day,” a Face- book page for the event stated.
Troy resident Sue Dunckel organized the event on Saturday night by creating the Facebook page and inviting friends from the community.
The next day more than 40 supporters showed up in Monument Square, ready to join in the peaceful downtown protest.
This was the first time Dunckel had organized such an event. On why she decided to do it now, “I just felt it was time to have action,” Dunckel said.
She was inspired by these words: “The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crisis maintain their neutrality.”
Based upon an interpretation of Dante’s Inferno, this was a favorite quote of President John F. Kennedy.
“Through the last couple months, I wanted to speak out but I kind of felt that for the sake of unity and for the sake of keeping tempers calm, it might be better to stay sort of neutral and just let this work itself out, but after what I saw happen yesterday, I realized that it was the wrong move, that actually by staying neutral I was not helping my points of view to be heard,” Dunckel said on Sunday at the event.
“So, last night I decided it was time for me to try to take some kind of action,” she continued. and just posting on social media wasn’t enough. I actually had to take a physical action.”
After initiating the event, Dunckel found that many others in Troy and the surrounding areas were feeling the same.
Though she’d heard about a similar efforts across the river, “I haven’t seen much of a presence in Troy. It’s mostly been held in Albany, and I thought that we should have something in Troy, too, because we have a very diverse population here.”
Dunckel’s goal for Sundays’ event was to unite, she explained. “I decided to call this vigil today United We Stand. I called it that because I want unity and I want peace. This isn’t to fracture anything, but to call us together.”
Furthermore, the event was an opportunity for like-minded people to network and create connections if they should ever have to quickly call to action again, Dunckel said. “We can mobilize faster.”
Dozens of locals showed up to participate in United We Stand In Solidarity, including some of the city and county’s political candidates.
“This is a time when we need to be standing in solidarity for people around the country who are facing threats far worse than we face here,” said Troy City Council District 4 candidate Anasha Cummings. “My hope is that we’re in partnership with thousands of similar events all over the country right now that are standing up and saying that extremist white nationalist action is not acceptable in this country. And that for every one of them there are thousands of us who are ready to step up and defend the values that make America, America and that give us our place in the world.”
Another Troy City Council candidate, Timothy “TJ” Kennedy of District 6, said he was there to make a public statement with the community “that we as a city won’t tolerate racism or discrimination of any kind.”
David Bissember, a Troy City Council candidate for District 5, said he attended to stand in solidarity after the incidents in Charlotte, Va. “I think it’s important that we come together as
a community here in Troy to show our solidarity and to say no to racism, to say no to racists. We need to be vigilant now more than ever and move forward together as a city and as a country.”
Rensselaer County Executive candidate Andrea Smyth, who was also at the local event, said “I look forward to the day when denouncing violence doesn’t make the news.”
Pat Cumo of North Greenbush, who regularly attends protests, believes the group’s presence on Sunday was a way of peacefully saying “We’re not going to take it,” she said. Cumo hopes this message will sink in with people both in the Capital Region and across the nation.
As Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” began playing on a speaker in the square, Troy resident Lisa Powell Graham said, “What I think makes us most beautiful as a country in the United States of America is our diversity, and it’s just really painful for me to witness this revival of white supremacy, hatred, racism. I know it’s always been there bubbling under the surface, to some degree, but I feel like this presidential administration has empowered racists, and it’s very upsetting. So, I’m just here to show my support and solidarity and we can all keep working toward Martin Luther King’s dream for equality and for everybody to be judged by the quality of their character and not the color of their skin.”