MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Around 200 people exercised their right to peaceably assemble Tuesday night on Georgia College’s front campus in response to recent racial violence in Charlottesville, Va. 

One person, 32-year-old Heather Heyer, was killed Saturday in Charlottesville after a car rammed into a crowd of counter-protesters at a rally and many more were reported injured.

The Milledgeville Stands Against Hate rally was organized by the Middle Georgia Progressive Women, a group formed last September with the goal of getting women involved in local politics. 

Several people spoke Tuesday, some with prepared remarks and some off the cuff, in the gathering that lasted about an hour within the college’s designated free speech zone around the flagpole on front campus. Attendees varied from permanent local residents to those who work in the community and also included Georgia College students already back in town for the start of the fall term. Many in the crowd were sporting signs with messages like “Breed love, not hate,” “Love one another,” and “Silence is complicity” in response to the recent violence.

The Rev. Susan Balfour from the First Presbyterian Church of Milledgeville opened with a prayer before going into her remarks.

“I recognize the diversity that is gathered here this evening, and I celebrate it,” she said. “Thank you so much for coming out for this. First I want to ask forgiveness of my brothers and sisters who are targets of racism and xenophobia. It is heartbreaking that it takes white people to stand up and speak for people of color and of other religions and nationalities. We look forward to a day when voices may be heard no matter what color or what race or religion that comes with.”

She took a strong stance against the events in Charlottesville, referring to them as “white extremist terrorism.”

“There is no moral equivocation here,” Balfour said. “No one dwells in fear of a liberal fighting for justice, and there sure are a lot of people who dwell in fear of white nationalists bearing torches and swastikas. There is a right and a wrong here. This racist ideology may have been with us all along, but the white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and the KKK have been given permission to unleash their hatred and to do it without fear of reprisal. Brothers and sisters we must stand together to revoke that permission at the top of our lungs, from the bottom of our hearts, and in the strongest possible ways. We simply have to be better than this. … Let us know justice that we may truly know peace.”

Local resident Gregory Barnes gave a brief account in his view of why the events in Charlottesville took place. He added that the college town in Virginia could be looked at as a microcosm of Milledgeville and Baldwin County as Charlottesville’s population closely mirrors numbers locally. 

“As we begin to stand with Charlottesville, we also must start standing with Milledgeville,” Barnes said. “We also must start standing with Baldwin County because all change is local. It is not federal. Sometimes we think that if we just vote federal change … change is not going to come. We think if we just vote federal change then that’s going to do it. What we’ve learned is that we are sadly mistaken.”

Speaker Stephanie McClure and other speakers that followed were consistent with the overall theme of the rally — that change must happen locally and that some uncomfortable conversations must take place in order to bring that change. 

“I need you to understand that tonight is not the thing,” McClure said. “This is not the thing. Tonight is the accountability for the thing. We see each other and we be seen. We know that we belong to each other and that we want it to be different. And if we want it to be different we have to do different every day. We have to leave here, walk away, and be willing to have those uncomfortable conversations.”

The Middle Georgia Progressive Women’s group member challenged everyone in attendance to make a commitment to be a part of the change that needs to happen. Megan Goetz, a fourth-year GC student from Augusta, said after the gathering that she wants to become more comfortable using her voice in public and not just on social media. 

Former Milledgeville mayor and state senator Floyd Griffin also addressed the crowd Tuesday night saying he remembers the days he was not allowed to walk through the Georgia College campus. He said that Pres. Donald Trump’s comments on the violence in Charlottesville have given him similar feelings to his days as a young man in the community and attending Tuskegee University in the ‘60s. 

“We cannot allow that to happen,” Griffin said. “…I have never been embarrassed by our presidents, whether they are Republican or Democrat. Now I didn’t say I agree with them on everything, but I am absolutely embarrassed and sick.”

McClure said after the rally that she hopes that this is where change begins. 

“I loved the crowd that we had. I hope that people do more when they leave because this is not sufficient. It’s necessary, but not sufficient.”