pic.jpg

More than 500 people gathered at Kelly Ingram park for a unity rally on Thursday, Nov. 12.

(Joel Valencia)

Before an estimated 500 people took to the streets of downtown Birmingham for a unity rally Thursday night, Sylvia Kay said she was dealing with threats on the rally's event page on Facebook.

It was something Kay didn't see coming as she started organizing the event. The point of the rally held at Kelly Ingram Park was to provide a space for a diverse crowd of people to come together to support one another following the election of Donald Trump as president. But about 30 minutes after Kay started the page, she said those who opposed the event started making threats.

Some of the initial threats talked about how the participants should be sprayed with fire hoses and attacked by dogs - images seen during the Civil Rights Movement and now immortalized in the monuments that stand in the same park where the rally was held.

At first she thought she could stop the threats by changing the settings on the event page. Instead of letting people post freely, she had to approve the posts before they appeared on the page. But that didn't stop people from saying things in the comment section, she said. So she contacted Birmingham Police to provide security for the event.

Kay said she has organized three rallies since she moved to Birmingham from London about six years ago, but she this is the first time she had to call law enforcement for safety reasons.

"People started getting scared of coming to rally," Kay said. "I never seen so much hate."

Jordan Giddens, one of the five organizers who helped Kay with the event, said he saw more threatening messages when he started live streaming the march on the event page.

Giddens said the group doesn't feel intimidated by those who made the threats. Instead, he said he welcomes them to the second rally that will be held on Saturday, Nov. 12, at 5 p.m. at Kelly Ingram.

"One day I hope the world can embrace the diversity and differences in others, because that is what makes this country so beautiful and special," he said. "We love you regardless of your threats because I believe love will conquer all."

Unlike the first rally, Kay said there will be speakers from across the state talking during the event. Birmingham police will be providing security again, she stressed.

"We have to make sure everyone is safe because we are trying to do everything peacefully," Kay said.