Black Lives Matter to march from New York City to DC ahead of Charlottesville rally anniversary

A Black Lives Matter leader says the group is planning to hold a march from New York City to Washington, D.C., to mark the first anniversary of last year’s violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Activist Hawk Newsome told the New York Daily News that the march will start in New York on Aug. 3, and is meant to spread love, not hate.

“Our goal is not to confront them physically, but to create a wave of love around them, to say there is no place in our society for bigoted hate groups,” Newsome told the outlet.

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The march will hold rallies calling for racial harmony in a new city every night along the route, ending with a rally at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Newsome said he was at the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville last year.

Counter-protester Heather Heyer, 32, was killed when a man drove his car into a crowd. The suspect, James Fields, was charged in a 30-count indictment with federal hate crimes.

Newsome told the Daily News that marchers will use “passive, nonviolent behavior and messages of love on the march route” and that they are “very clearly clearly not seeking confrontation with anyone.”

“[This] will be remembered in history as the day that Americans of all colors and religions united against hate to say, ‘There is no place for bigotry and racism in America,’” he said.

Jason Kessler, who organized the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, said he will hold a rally in Washington on the anniversary of the initial event.

He initially planned to hold an anniversary rally in Charlottesville, but withdrew the petition after the city denied his request for the event.