More than 100 people came together in a show of solidarity against racism and bigotry in Abbotsford Sunday afternoon.
The rally was organized in response to the recent spread of Ku Klux Klan literature last weekend. More than 70 bags with pamphlets disparaging civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. were discovered on and around the 35200 block of Marshall road on Sunday Jan. 15 – the day before King’s birthday is celebrated in the U.S.
About a dozen different people took turns speaking to the assembled crowd, who packed into a room in the basement of the Abbotsford Heritage Sikh Temple on South Fraser Way.
The rally had originally been planned to be held in the parking lot but was moved inside due to rain.
Several attendees brought hand-made signs, some of which read: “This machine kills racism;” “Smash fascism;” “Racism never wins;” and “Never thought in my day, I’d have to protest the KKK.”
Jen Castro, who came from Vancouver to attend the rally, held a sign reading: “My community looks better in full colour.”
“It’s really important for us to come to Abbotsford to support our brothers and sisters and give them what they need to help fight a really hard fight,” she said.
Gurpreet Singh, editor of the monthly political magazine Radical Desi and one of the event’s organizers, said the turnout to the rally was heartening.
“It’s a defeat of bigotry and a victory of humanity and people’s unity,” he said. “The encouraging part is people came from different backgrounds: There were indigenous people, people from the Chinese community, from the South Asian community, people from the Muslim community [and] people from the mainstream caucasian community.”
Following the series of speeches, participants marched across the street to the Khalsa Diwan Society Sikh Temple, where food was served.
