Elizabeth: Rally against racism to be held Saturday
By Christine Haines
chaines@yourmvi.com
Sometimes all it takes to spur a person to action is a word, especially if it’s the wrong word.
A series of Facebook posts prompted a group of young women who grew up in the Elizabeth area and graduated from Elizabeth Forward High School to organize a rally against racism.
The event will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday starting at Riverfront Park at the barge, which will serve as both the rallying point and end point of the march. The main speakers are a state police officer, local organizers and several others.
Destiny Vaccaro said the idea for the rally was developed after she and others saw what they described as blatantly racist posts in a community social media site and saw people treating those remarks like jokes. Vaccaro said it hurt to see how racist people could be when they were behind a computer screen.
When one person suggested she simply scroll past comments that offended her, Vaccaro posted on her own page.
“She’s literally asking anyone of color to turn a blind eye and allow them to continue their jokes about Blacks. So anytime we as Blacks are being bashed or able to be joked about, basically we should carry on and not respond. What kind of world is this?” Vaccaro posted. “People who do that tend to do things because they are unhappy in their own lives and I try not to fuel that.”
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