A "Listen and Love" rally is scheduled for Water Tower Park in New Berlin at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Education & Action Together (E.A.T.), a group newly launched by Springfield community organizer John Keating II and Chadwick Workman, will host a teach-in and protest in Pawnee at 5 p.m. Saturday.

The Springfield Police Department is hosting a "Stand in Solidarity With Springfield" event at the bridge between the Municipal Building and the police office at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. It is a gathering of law enforcement agencies, faith leaders, community groups and residents "to promote unity throughout the community," according to a flyer.

Black Lives Matter Springfield will host a candlelight vigil on Facebook Live at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

UIS Coalition Builders will host "Breathe: Virtual Listening Tables in Response to Racism & Protests) at noon Thursday. (https://ift.tt/3eWeN9U).

Kendra Jo Day, who is organizing the New Berlin event, said it is a way "to stand together against things we have previously chosen to live with. I refuse to live with racism anymore but it takes a village unified to change these things."

Sunshine Clemons, president of Black Lives Matter Springfield, said that the town of Sparta, Illinois, which is predominantly white, was "a second home" growing up. Communities like Sparta, along with Anna, Herrin and Carterville, all "sundown towns" where black people weren’t safe after dark, have recently put on marches and rallies.