DAVENPORT, Iowa-- Quad City religious and civil rights leaders are speaking out against the violent rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Saturday, August 12.
The protest left at least one person dead and 35 more injured after a car drove through a crowd of people protesting against a white nationalist rally scheduled to take place the same day.
The driver, James Fields Junior from Ohio has been arrested and charged with second degree murder.
The protest held by the Alt-right, white supremacists was organized against the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from the city’s downtown area.
“It’s a terrorist attack… all you have to do is look at it, it was motivated by hate, it was deliberate and intentional, it was targeted…” says President of the Rock Island County NAACP, Berlinda Tyler-Jamison.
The deadly protest to the east comes after the National Alliance, another white supremacist group left its mark in Davenport, leaving signs promoting hate around town.
" I don’t believe that hate is increasing, I think that there has been hateful people out there all along and I think that in today’s climate, they feel embolden,” says Reverend Richard Hendricks, from Metropolitan Community Church.
In response to the hate speech, One Human Family QCA will host a “No Hate Rally” at Vander Veer Park in Davenport on Wednesday, August 16 at 12:15 pm.
Both community leaders say the rally couldn’t have come at better time.