Hundreds march against hate in Hillsborough one week after KKK rally outside courthouse

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Hundreds of people took to the streets in Hillsborough Saturday to march against hate. This comes one week after the KKK showed up unannounced outside the Orange County Courthouse.

"A March against White Supremacy" started at the Margaret Lane Cemetery and moved to the courthouse downtown.

"This is our community. We are the taxpayers that are in this community, and we're going to drive the conversation - not people outside the community," Latondra Strong, with Hate-Free Schools Coalition, said.

RELATED: 2 people at KKK protest in Hillsborough sought on weapons charges

Last week, members of the Ku Klux Klan gathered outside the courthouse.

The members were part of the 'Loyal White Knights' out of Rockingham County.

Counter-protesters then staged themselves in front of the KKK and across the street.

"It's exciting to see so many people who are willing to take risks to come out and stand in solidarity, to be on the street, knowing that maybe the Klan will show up," said Heather Redding with Hillsborough Progressives Taking Action. "We need people to move out of their comfort zones, and to take these risks, and join the African-American community and to join all the communities that face threats from white supremacist groups."

Hillsborough Mayor Tom Stevens said the response last week to the KKK showing up announced showed what his town is all about.

"Hillsborough is the kind of community of people of what's right about small-town America," Mayor Stevens said. "That means we have to be dealing with some of these issues and some of these hateful messages that are not just in Hillsborough but we have to deal with in communities across America."