Anti-hate rally in Fresno hopes to take a stand against white supremacy

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Simone Cranston-Rhodes is an expert at organizing rallies. Saturday morning she will be leading a crowd again in the Tower District. This time, promoting a message she never imagined would be necessary.

"Before this point in time, it was always generally understood that the KKK, neo-Nazis were a bad thing, now it doesn't seem so clear anymore."

The counter rally against hate is a response to the Charlottesville protests and other white supremacist rhetoric around the country.

Simone said Fresno needs to take a stand.

"I just want to be clear, that people have to the right to free speech and to assemble, but when you start promoting ideologies of genocide that's where I draw the line."

Right now, organizers aren't expecting counter protestors. But they have met with Fresno Police to make sure the events in Virginia, even Barcelona don't happen here.

"That there's a safety lane for the protest, we are going to have a cushion built into this one that we typically don't have so we can react if somebody were to do that," said Fresno Police Department Captain Michael Reed.

The protest starts at 10:00 a.m., but officers will be surveying the perimeter of Wishon and Olive before then.

"It works very well because we haven't made the news, and we seem to have a format folks are adhering to," said Reed.

A working relationship that has kept more than 70 rallies this year safe.