Social unity rallies planned for Friday afternoon, Saturday

LACONIA — A planned rally for social unity on Friday could be the first of many throughout the summer as organizers hope to gain traction and spread a message of tolerance throughout the community.

A rally, organized by the Laconia Human Relations Committee and members of the public, is scheduled for at 4:30 p.m. on Friday at City Hall. A second rally is planned for 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 1. 

Committee Chair Pat Wood said he hopes the demonstrations will attract residents to band together to support social cohesion and tolerance and provide an avenue for those who are interested to get involved with the operations of the committee.

“The purpose of these rallies is to remind the people of Laconia how important the mission of the Human Relations Committee is,” he said. 

The rallies, which organizers hope will take place simultaneously at several locations within the city, were prompted in part by antisemitic graffiti and white nationalist posters found at the Laconia State School property, along the WOW Trail and at the headquarters of the Belknap County Democratic Committee last year. But organizers of the rallies hope to spread a broader message encouraging social unity rather than focus on those events.

“The initial cause of the concern was the graffiti found on the State School property and the local Democratic Party headquarters,” Wood said. “It was in response to those that the concept of these rallies was originated.”

Wood said his hope is these rallies will serve as a poignant reminder to community members of the importance of racial diversity and respecting one another. 

Organizers plan host a dispersed rally, which would have participants hold signs at destinations including the Main Street intersection near Stewart Park and the library, along with the intersection of Union Avenue and Elm Street in Lakeport, Busy Corner and a location on the city's south side.

“A group of citizens attended our meeting and requested that we do something in response to the anonymous controversial speech going on in the town,” committee member Matt Soza said in an interview.

After a series of subcommittee meetings, participants developed an idea for the series of rallies and demonstrations. 

“The idea is not for a response or a reaction, but to allow people to express different points of view,” Soza said. 

The rallies will be explicitly nonpartisan — political signage of any affiliation will not be included.

The Human Relations Committee will not dictate what can or cannot be included on a sign, but Soza said they’ve suggested terms in a theme of unity and tolerance including: “united in tolerance;” “united against racism;” “united against prejudice;” "united against antisemitism;" “united in support for democracy” and “better together.” 

“We’re going to be doing these every few weeks based on the turnout,” Soza said. “We hope to have enough people to cover many spots.”

Soza said participants will meet at the parking lot in front of City Hall in order to assess attendance and determine which locations to include or exclude. Organizers hope members of the public view this event as apolitical and would like to see participants who represent various political opinions come together to support the general idea of social unity. 

“All we’ve heard so far is good,” Soza said. “A lot of people seem to think this is a good idea.”