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Charlottesville Victim's Mother: 'I Want Her Death to Be a Rallying Cry for Justice'
32-year-old Heather Heyer died Saturday when a car drove through a white supremacist counter protest.
32-year-old Heather Heyer was killed Saturday in Charlottesville, Virgina when a man at the "Unite The Right" rally drove his car through a group of counter protestors.
Heather worked as a paralegal in Charlottesville and attended the counter-protest to stand up to the white supremacists that engulfed her town. HuffPost sat down with Heather's mother, Susan Bro, who opened up about her daughter's courageous spirit. "She always had a very strong sense of right and wrong. She always, even as a child, was very caught up in what she believed to be fair,” said an emotional Bro. “Somehow I almost feel that this is what she was born to be, is a focal point for change."
“No mother wants to lose a child, but I’m proud of her,” Bro tearfully added. “I’m proud of what she did.”
19 others were injured in what many are calling a domestic terrorist attack. 20-year-old James Fields Jr. has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding, and one count of failing to stop at an accident resulting in a death. Fields was photographed marching with a fascist, white supremacist organization earlier that day.
"I think he’s still very young, and I’m sorry he believed that hate could fix problems," Bro said. "Hate only brings more hate. Heather was not about hate, Heather was about stopping hatred. Heather was about bringing an end to injustice."
A GoFundMe has been set up on Heather's behalf. Earlier today in front of the Confederate General Robert E. Lee statue in Emancipation Park where the "Unite the Right" rally took place, someone has declared the park Heyer Memorial Park.
\u201cA woman just put this sign outside the Robert E Lee statue in #Charlottesville #HeatherHeyer @wsoctv\u201d— Joe Bruno (@Joe Bruno) 1502729735
Bro hopes that Heather's death won't be in vain. "I don’t want her death to be a focus for more hatred. I want her death to be a rallying cry for justice and equality and fairness and compassion. I’m very sorry that [Fields] chose that path because he has now ruined his life as well as robbed a great many of us of someone we love very much."
Taylor Henderson is a PRIDE.com contributor. This proud Texas Bama studied Media Production/Studies and Sociology at The University of Texas at Austin, where he developed his passions for pop culture, writing, and videography. He's absolutely obsessed with Beyoncé, mangoes, and cheesy YA novels that allow him to vicariously experience the teen years he spent in the closet. He's also writing one!
Taylor Henderson is a PRIDE.com contributor. This proud Texas Bama studied Media Production/Studies and Sociology at The University of Texas at Austin, where he developed his passions for pop culture, writing, and videography. He's absolutely obsessed with Beyoncé, mangoes, and cheesy YA novels that allow him to vicariously experience the teen years he spent in the closet. He's also writing one!
