Rally Against Racism Being Held in Downtown Fargo

Organizers say the rally is due to "concerning incidents" of hate filled speech in the community lately

FARGO, ND — North Dakota United Against Hate is holding a rally against racism and bias speech after a few concerning incidents have taken place in the community.

KVRR’s Morgan Parrish joins us live from the event in downtown Fargo with more details.

REPORTER MORGAN PARRISH: I’m here at the rally where dozens of people are out supporting refugees all across the F-M area on why they need to be treated equally along with everyone else. I’m here with Barry Nelson, the organizer of the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition, and he’s going to tell us a little bit about what’s going on here today.

BARRY NELSON, NORTH DAKOTA HUMAN RIGHTS COALITION: This is an opportunity for members of our community to come together and support all people who live in our community, regardless of where they came from, what religion they practice or any other kind of things that are different. This is a way to bring us together in a united fashion. One of the first things we need to stand up in this community and say is that we have zero tolerance for hate in our community. There’s no room in our community for people to live in fear of being attacked because of who they are. Despite our “North Dakota nice” and our safe communities, we are seeing evidence of people being attacked because of who they are and where they came from. We must stand up and say loudly, “No” and we do this by supporting members in our community, which we have a plan going forward on this. We need to be able to provide laws and legislation that diminishes these kinds of crimes and we need to have conversations and education that’s going to diminish the kinds of fears and hatreds that drive us there.

MP: Why is it so crucial to have a gathering like this in the community?

BN: I think so often we see something terrible happening in our community, we are rendered powerless. We don’t know what to do. Well meaning people want to do something. This is one thing. The first step is to come together in unity in the rain and say “No!” this is not the kind of community we want and to see that other people in the community that are coming together around this. Hopefully, tonight, people will come away with specific actions they can take tomorrow, next week and next month to also work against this.

MP: I saw that you set up a GoFundMe account on the Facebook post about this. Can you share with us a little bit about that?

BN: We have had some really horrible examples of the results of hate crime. In one case, a father of five was beaten severely trying to protect the life of a woman who he was giving a taxi ride. In the last three years, he’s been unable to work steadily. He has had hours and hours of reconstructive surgery. He’s had legal costs, medical costs and this man has not been able to put his life together. We are raising money to help him get his life back together and help support his family. We had another instance in early July where the person was inflicted with ambulance costs and hospital costs and lost wages. This gives us a chance to say “we’re there with you, we’ll help you through this difficult time and we support you.”

MP: On KVRR Local News at 9, we’ll hear more from refugees on challenges they face each and every day in the community.