REMEMBRANCE
Mourners remember the woman who ‘loved people’ and fought injustice
Mourners in Charlottesville, Va., observe a moment of silence during a memorial service for Heather Heyer, who was killed when a car rammed into a crowd protesting a white supremacist rally.
In an auditorium filled to capacity Wednesday, mourners in Charlottesville, Va., grieved the woman killed last weekend when a car rammed into a crowd of people protesting a white supremacist rally.
Many of those who gathered at the Paramount Theater to remember Heather Heyer wore her favorite color, purple. With pictures of Heyer projected onto a large screen, friends and family of the 32-year-old paralegal stood onstage and remembered her as an outspoken advocate for racial equality who stood up against injustice. The speakers also urged others to denounce violence. Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro, gave a passionate sevenminute speech encouraging mourners to use her daughter’s memory to inspire others to fight against hate, and said the outpouring of support she had received suggested that many people shared her daughter’s values.
“We don’t all have to die; we don’t all have to sacrifice our lives. They tried to kill my child to shut her up. Well, guess what — you just magnified her.”
Bro reminisced about Heyer’s fiery conviction to speak out for what she believed was right. During dinners, Bro recalled, she would have conversations with her daughter about politics and injustice.
“She and I would talk and I would listen and we would negotiate … the girl loved to talk,” Bro said. “You never think you’re going to bury your child .... They asked me for pictures for this and I struggled.”
She added that if people were not outraged by her daughter’s death, then they weren’t paying attention. She asked people not to “look the other way.”
“You make it a point to look at it and say to yourself, ‘What can I do to make a difference?’ and that’s how you’re going to make my child’s death worthwhile,” Bro said. “I’d rather have my child, but, by golly, if I have to give her up, we’re going to make it count.”
Fighting back tears, Heyer’s father, Mark Heyer, also spoke about the pride he felt when he heard others remember his daughter, and he encouraged people to use her death as an opportunity to practice forgiveness.
“No father should have to do this…. She loved people, she wanted equality, and in this issue of the day of her passing she wanted to put down hate, and for my part we just need to stop all this stuff and forgive each other.”