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Fed up with racism? Head to city hall on Friday

Organizers of rally in response to Charlottesville violence say white supremacy is an issue here too
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Information about a rally against racism can be found on Facebook.

There’ll be a rally against racism at Barrie City Hall Friday.

In the wake of tragic headlines in the United States last weekend, Keenan Aylwin, Lyn Therien and Lauren Maclachlan are urging Barrie-area residents to help fight racism.

Barrie Stands Against White Supremacy runs from 5:30 - 7 p.m. and includes a time to reflect on a woman killed while attending an anti-fascist rally in Charlottesville, North Carolina.

The event will also feature speakers and a community forum.

In describing the event on social media, the organizers say they want to take a stand against the kind of violence that occurred in Charlottesville on Aug. 11 and 12, which shows how strong white supremacy still is in North America.

“We wish to honour the life of Heather Heyer who was killed by a white nationalist who rammed his car into the anti-fascist march on Saturday. Given the bold, violent and organized presence of white supremacists, spewing their anti-immigrant, anti-Black, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, racist vitriol in Charlottesville,” the event description says.

“We also gather in strength and solidarity with anti-racists and anti-fascists there and across the continent who are stopping the fascists in their tracks. We want to live in a community where we care for each other and are capable of stopping fascism and racism wherever it is found.”

The organizers say white supremacy isn’t just an American problem; it happens in Canada too.

“It is extremely important that we organize resistance to their rise in strength and that we have a presence in the streets.

The group raised concerns with extreme right groups who attempted to demonstrate against the hosting of refugees at the Montreal Olympic stadium.

The Proud Boys, a group that began in the USA, have also been organizing in Canada and they disrupted an indigenous-led anti-Canada Day event in Halifax.