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Not seeing a local response to the violence that unfolded in Charlottesville, Va. Saturday, Bergh street homeowner Lisa Servon [at right] woke Sunday morning and sprang into action.

The University of Pennsylvania educator put out the Stand Up Against Racism Asbury Park call to action via social media. Within hours, over 200 people responded by gathering at 7 p.m. in Library Square Park.

“I felt like being with people, who are [I don’t what the right adjective is] enraged, angry; and also to be visible,” she said. “I feel like white supremacists are getting more and more visible and we need to be a visible presence. I have found several times over the last several months just that what is happening is incomprehensible; just  that I can’t wrap my mind around it all. There’s not a word that is powerful enough; it’s not sad, it’s not angry. It really seem inconceivable to me and frightening. I’m very frighten for the country.”

Servon said she did not know a single person at the gathering, aside from her husband and son. She opened the event by reading Martin Luther King Jr’s 1957 quote on The Beloved Community and a poem by Elizabeth Alexander.

A moment of silence was held for all those who lost their lives fighting for social justice, with the crowd calling out their names, one by one, beginning with Heather Heyer, the 32-year-old mother killed by a white supremacist who drove his car into the crowd of peaceful counter demonstrators at the Saturday rally.

Dozens of others shared their reflections and personal stories, with some choosing song, poetry and the spoken word.

In attendance was local activist Sue Fulton and her partner Penny Gnesin, who helped organize Saturday night’s initial call to action rally in Red Bank, and who led the crowd through chants of affirmation and song.

“We have to gather, we come to gather, we remind each other, and then we have to go out and work,” Fulton, a former Freeholder candidate Army Captain, said. “I will tell you, this is working. The Women’s March set Congress back on their heels. The people who gathered in airports and supported those fighting the Muslim ban put them on their heels. And the disabled activist who went into the halls of Congress to stop them from ending healthcare, that put them on their heels. I will tell you, my white brothers and sisters, the problem of racism is ours to solve.”

In responding to President Donald Trump’s statement that there is hatred and violence on many sides following Saturday’s event, Fulton said, “We are here to say we know what side we are on. We are on the side of Black Americans, Latino Americans, Muslim Americans, of immigrants who come to this country and want to be Americans, we are on the side of LGBT Americans, we are on the side of Women, we are on the side of Constitution of the United States; a Constitution that guarantees freedom of the speech, of the press of all religion, a Constitution that guarantees due process and equal protection under the laws for all Americans.”

Rosa Lee McNair, known as Sister Isis, led the crowd in singing the post-Civil War African-American freedom song Oh Freedom.

“The people that are out there doing these horrible, crazy things, they don’t care about life, they don’t care about themselves,” she said. “Be careful what you do and be careful what you say, and teach that, preach that to your neighbors and to your friends. They may not like what you say but at least you have put a thought in their head.”

Wilson Beebe of Red Bank said while there is a need to protect free speech, the Charlottesville rally went beyond that.

“These were uniformed men, armed legally, I understand that,” he said. “But it went beyond that, they were wearing combat gear, they had riot shields, they had helmets, they had everything that suggested and communicated that we intend to menace the community and society. I would encourage our police and politicians to think about why that doesn’t necessarily constitute the abuse of free speech that the famous Oliver Wendell Holmes decision did that said you can’t cry fire in a crowded auditorium. It’s a threat to our community, it’s a threat to all of us.”

Lisa Davis’ poem on racial segregation and violence by zip code elicited resounding applause as did BOE member Sheila Etienne’s call to redefine ‘if you see something, say something,’ asking those in the group to speak up every time they witness a social injustice.’

Pam Lamberton said she was sitting next to a black man in an airport waiting room when she heard the news.

“I’m sorry we are sitting here watching this, all white people are not like this,” she said to the man. “And he looks at me says “I know that.’ And so he ended up comforting me.”

Eric Starin of Rockville, Md., said his vacation was interrupted by the news.

“I apologize to any Republicans here who are of good faith and well meaning but the Republican party has made a deal with the devil,” he said. “Unfortunately the Democratic party hasn’t done a good job of fighting it; so it’s up to us.”

Derek Reichenbecher of Point Pleasant, with his daughter by his side, read Martin Luther King Jr’s 1967 Where Do We Go From Here.

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