Hundreds gathered at the South Carolina State House Monday for the "Columbia Stands with Charlottesville" rally. The event was organized by several area-groups to show support for victims of the Charlottesville, VA violence.
Among the demonstrators was Connie Shier, who attended the rally to continue her family’s legacy of fighting fascism.
"Well, my uncle was a Lt. Col. He fought in WWII in the Pacific and he fought in Korea and he fought against fascism. And he would not have approved of what happened Saturday when the White nationalist supremacist, KKK racist showed up. He fought against that."
City of Columbia mayor Steve Benjamin said hearing about the news in Charlottesville was very painful.
"It was painful. It was painful. I’ve been in constant communication with the mayor of Charlottesville as well and he anticipated it to be a rough weekend, but I’m not sure anyone could anticipate all that happened."
Benjamin also said, he hoped events like the rally Monday would encourage more conversations of unity.
"By coming together at events like this, I believe we call can set the state for talking more about love, grace and mercy and how we are in this together rather than about how we want to separate each other."