Barricades on the Boston Common, where a rally in solidarity with the victims of Charlottesville, Va., will be held on Saturday, Aug. 18, 2017. (Photo: Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

BOSTON — The Parkman Bandstand sits in a quiet corner of Boston Common, well away from the park’s iconic swan boats and the frog pond where little kids by the dozen are known to splash in the fountains during the warm summer months. It is an advertised stop along the city’s storied Freedom Trail, a walking tour of the spots that gave birth to American democracy and helped shape the country’s identity as the land of the free and home of the brave.

But those ideals — particularly the right to freedom of speech — could be put to the test this weekend, as Boston braces for a controversial rally hosted by far-right groups that many here worry could turn violent.

The rally, billed as the “Boston Free Speech Rally,” is scheduled for Saturday, just one week after a protest at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., turned deadly. One woman was killed and dozens were injured after a white supremacist allegedly plowed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters that was clashing with white supremacists and neo-Nazis marching against the removal of a Confederate memorial.

Organizers of Boston’s march, planned since July, have insisted that their group has no links to hate groups involved in the Virginia melee, but at least two of the announced speakers have extremist ties. The rally has prompted at least two counterprotest marches, including from the local chapter of Black Lives Matter, which also plans to converge on the Boston Common — prompting warnings from city officials and law enforcement they will not tolerate violence from either side.

On Friday, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh strongly urged hate groups to stay away and called for the city to embrace unity — invoking the history of other speakers who have taken to the steps at the bandstand to promote inclusiveness and equality.

“From that stage in 1965, Martin Luther King spoke the words that still ring true today, that it’s not a battle of white people versus black people, but a struggle of the forces of justice and injustice. From that stage about 10 years ago, Barack Obama was running for president of the United States of America, and we began to imagine the idea of our country with its first black president,” Walsh said. “Those are the words we will remember.”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addresses civil rights marchers on historic Boston Common April 23, 1965 after a demonstration to protest segregation in schools, jobs and housing. (Photo: AP) More

Echoing King, he added, “We don’t respond to hate with hate. We respond to hate with peace.”

But Boston’s pushback against hate groups comes as the city has grappled with its own reputation of racism that it has long struggled to shake. Though it is considered one of the country’s most politically progressive cities — one that twice voted for a black president, Obama, and a black governor, Deval Patrick, whose two terms in the Massachusetts state house ended in 2015 — Boston’s racial issues continue. That includes a high-profile episode in May when Boston Red Sox fans used racial slurs to heckle Adam Jones, an all-star center fielder for the Baltimore Orioles during a game at Fenway Park.

Black players have repeatedly complained about racial epithets being hurled their way by Red Sox fans at the iconic ballpark. But the abuse made headlines when Jones, who is black, said Boston fans repeatedly insulted him with racial slurs and threw a bag of peanuts at him. Jones described it as one of the worst experiences of his 12-year career. Boston leaders condemned the incident and Red Sox management threatened lifetime bans for any fans caught using racial epithets at the park. Jones later received a standing ovation from Red Sox fans at another game and apologies from Walsh and others who said the behavior was not reflective of their city.

But the incident revived an age-old question for residents here who have long viewed their increasingly diverse city, which has gone from roughly 82 percent white in 1970 to 54 percent white today, as cosmopolitan and enlightened because of the large number of universities and research institutions here. “Is Boston racist?” a Boston Globe headline asked earlier this summer.