I was part of the counter protest in Boston this weekend because I was disgusted and angered that an armed mob was allowed to threaten the citizens of Charlottesville and to parade around in front of a synagogue (left defenseless by police) with their weapons chanting Nazi slogans during a worship service. This is unacceptable and I don't want them anywhere near my town or my neighbors. So I showed up with 40k other people, including clergy, black lives matter, Jews, gay people, hispanics, and other white people who feel it is our civic responsibility to do what we can to help stop these people and drive them out of our cities before they can get more of a foothold than they already have. By the time my group got to the commons (we were in the middle somewhere and couldn't see the beginning or the end of the crowd), the original "free speech" rally had already dispersed. I saw no violence, heard plenty of people singing hymns around me, and there was a great brass band, too. I marched for my Jewish friends, my gay friends, my immigrant friends, my black and Hispanic and Indian friends.
Whatever altercations there were with the police I was not part of and would have had no part of, and I think that goes for the overwhelming majority of those in the crowd.
