Its been a year since white supremacists violently rallied in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing Heather Heyer and sparking a national reckoning on the state of racism in America.

HuffPost spoke with NAACP President Derrick Johnson ahead of this weekends anniversary of the white supremacist rally, about how the state of racism in the country has or hasnt changed since.

If anything, its gotten worse, Johnson said. Unfortunately the tone has been set by [President Donald Trumps] administration, and as a result, the level of racial intolerance increased.

This weekend, another Unite the Right rally is planned to mark the anniversary. This time its in the nations capital and organized by the same group that was behind the Charlottesville event last August. The gathering has been promoted as a white civil rights rally.

After neo-Nazis and white nationalists faced off with counterprotesters in Charlottesville last year, Trump notoriously said there were very fine people on both sides .

Racism has been a part of the fabric of this country for many years, Johnson told HuffPost on Thursday. Trump didnt create racism. He has just legitimized the tolerance of racism in the public square in a way we have not seen legitimized from the White House in many years.

For Johnson, the problem in this current moment is less that racism exists in the country and more that it is being normalized and some would say perpetuated by those in power .

The problem is not having racism in the country, but racism in political office, Johnson said.

Heres more from the head of the nations foremost civil rights organization on the state of racism in America one year after the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville: