Among a crowd of nearly 250 people at Triangle Park Sunday evening in Manhattan, a man stood sullen and silent towards the back of the crowd. He clutched a pole adorned with a large American flag.
He said his name was Mike. He said he was an Army veteran who served in Iraq and Kenya. He said he spent four years at Fort Riley and was in Triangle Park for the same reason the rest were.
They were there to hold a candlelight vigil in response to the the civil unrest in Charlottesville, Virginia, where hundreds of Klu Klux Klan members, Neo-Nazis and other white supremacist groups rallied over the weekend and were met by opposition.
On Saturday, a participant of the rally drove his car into a crowd of people protesting it, killing a 32-year-old woman and injuring 19.
“The actions that these white supremacists, these groups are taking, are not the ideals, not the beliefs I spent the last 10 years defending,” Mike said. “I’ve literally bled for this country, and to me, it is appalling seeing what these people are doing.
“It makes the father side of me scared for the future of my children,” he continued. “And at the same time, it makes the veteran side of me absolutely enraged to see the ideas and beliefs that I spent 10 years defending just thrown to the side.”
Jonalu Johnstone, the minister at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Manhattan, helped lead the vigil.
“The events in Charlottesville are both heartbreaking and enraging and all kinds of other emotions put together,” she told KMAN after.
Along with Johnstone, the Manhattan Alliance for Peace and Justice sponsored the vigil. Former mayor and outgoing city commissioner Karen McCulloh was also in attendance and spoke. She issued her condemnation of white supremacists and touted the Little Apple’s social progress, especially noting the commission’s August 2016 approval of an ordinance adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the city’s anti-discrimination policy.
Johnstone said when organizers brainstormed putting a vigil together earlier in the day, no more than 50 people were expected. She said she was happy they were wrong.
“It’s an outpouring that is heartening to me, that there are so many people in our community who are ready to say, ‘White supremacists don’t speak for us — we want to take back America,'” she said. “We’re not going to allow this kind of rhetoric to be out there, especially when it turns into violence, like it so clearly did this weekend.”
Manhattan resident Shukeyla Harrison spoke at the vigil in between songs of peace led by Johnstone.
Harrison is a retired director of former President Barrack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign and told KMAN she’s always valued community involvement and participation. But added this weekend there was extra need.
“When anyone sees someone being ran over by a car, that makes you move,” she said. “It makes you want to get up, get motivated and become a part of your community, because you don’t want to see that happen in your own home.
Harrison said she was happy the vigil’s attendance exceeded expectations.
“Manhattan needs to see that, Kansas needs to see that, and most importantly, the world needs to see a positive movement — a peaceful movement,” she said.
