Hundreds to march against hate in Hillsborough

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Hundreds of people plan to take to the streets of downtown Hillsborough on Saturday to march against hate.

The event comes one week after members of the KKK showed up unannounced outside the Orange County Courthouse.

The event, "A March against White Supremacy" starts at the Margaret Lane Cemetery at noon. The event then goes moves to the courthouse downtown.

"Our strong community ties won't stand for that kind of action here in our town and it's only a matter of time before they leave," said Latarndra Strong of the Hate-Free Schools Coalition.

She was the first person at the rally last week when word spread quickly of who was standing outside the courthouse. She said 80 people showed up in 15 minutes. It's unknown how many people will be at the event Saturday.

"We don't accept racism, we don't accept white supremacy and hate groups are not welcome in this town," said Heather Redding, founder of Hillsborough Progressives Taking Action. "We're still going to express our solidarity with people of color, Jews, the LGBT community and the immigrant community. We want to be a welcoming town: We don't want to be that town where people are afraid to bring their families because the klan might be out there."

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."

The event is scheduled from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday.