Remembering Heather Heyer
She was killed during a Nazi protest in Charlottesville
Heather Heyer’s loved ones, politicians and strangers gathered at her memorial Wednesday.
The 32-year-old paralegal was killed Saturday when a car plowed into a crowd of protesters gathered to oppose a white supremacist rally. James Alex Fields Jr., who had come from Ohio for the protest, is charged with murder in her death.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va) were among officials in attendance.
Her mother’s words
Starting on the day after Heyer was killed while demonstrating against the white supremacists, her mother, Susan Bro, spoke out forcefully against hating the man police say is responsible.
“Our daughter did not live a life of hate, and hating this young man is not going to solve anything,” Susan Bro said of Fields, who has been charged with in the car-ramming incident that left also injured 19. A former teacher said Fields sympathized with Nazi views.
Her father’s words
Mark Heyer recalled raising a defiant, strong-willed and compassionate daughter who always argued for what she thought was right. He said they didn’t always agree but he always heard her perspective.
“Heather’s passion extended to her ideas, her thoughts. And her grandfather is right — she could tell when somebody wasn’t being straight.”
“She loved people, she wanted equality,” Heyer said. On the day of her passing, she wanted to put down hate.”
Her co-worker’s words
Co-worker Feda Khateeb-Wilson recalled a vivacious and impassioned friend “who cursed like a sailor sometimes” and lived a daily commitment to fairness for all citizens.
“Maybe if you didn’t speak so loudly they wouldn’t have heard you and you would still be here,” she said, addressing her friend. “Thank you for making the word hate real, but thank you for making the word love even stronger.”
President Trump’s statements
President Trump on Tuesday praised Heyer as “an incredible young woman” and noted that Bro had released a statement Monday thanking him for his remarks on the tragedy. After receiving criticism of his initial response, which put blame “on many sides,” Trump on Monday explicitly condemned “the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups.”
In a combative news conference Tuesday, Trump again pointed to “blame on both sides,” and argued that many of those gathered in Charlottesville, who marched with torches in a dramatic scene Friday night, were not white supremacists but rather were there to voice concern over the fate of a Robert E. Lee statue. Neither Trump nor any administration officials was immediately visible at the funeral.
Her longtime friend’s words
Justin Marks, 30, said he and Heyer were watching a friend’s live stream of the hundreds of torch-wielding marchers making their way through the University of Virginia campus Friday night.
Heyer was confused about why they were chanting, “You will not replace us!” and “Jews will not replace us!” Marks said.
“She was just saying how crazy it was that this was happening in our town,” Marks said. “She didn’t think what they were chanting was peaceful.”
But she didn’t hate those people, Marks said. Heyer didn’t hate anyone. She just wanted to understand them. And, on the day she died, she wanted to fight for equality.
Marks hopes that the funeral will give people the courage to speak out, and then he hopes the town can heal.
“Heather didn’t have to stand up for anybody’s rights. She was a straight white woman. She didn’t have to show up that day,” Marks said. “I hope that speaks to people in the same position.”
