One year later, Charlottesville grapples with issues exposed by deadly rally

Sometimes Alfred Wilson still has to take a moment to collect himself after he pulls open files at the law firm where he works and sees Heather Heyer’s handwriting.

“I get choked up and have to gather myself before I talk to the client,” said Wilson, who hired Heyer, the 32- year- old paralegal who was killed one year ago today in a car attack during a violent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The rally that left Heyer dead and dozens more injured proved to be a watershed moment, both for the racist, fringe “alt- right” movement, and for the city itself. In the year since, many residents such as Wilson say the wounds haven’t healed. Others say the violence has laid bare divisions over deeper issues of race and economic inequality and what should be done to move forward.

“One of my hugest gripes with last year with the people of this town was that people, mostly white folks, kept saying, ‘ This isn’t Charlottesville,’” said Brenda Brown-Grooms, a local pastor and activist. “I wonder what planet they live on. This is exactly who we are.”

A Charlottesville native, born in the segregated basement of the University of Virginia hospital, Brown-Grooms said white supremacy was present in Charlottesville long before the rally and is the “elephant in the room” that the city now must deal with.

Activists have pushed leaders to

“One of my hugest gripes with last year with the people of this town was that people, mostly white folks, kept saying, ‘ This isn’t Charlottesville.’ I wonder what planet they live on. This is exactly who we are.” A statue of Thomas Jefferson is fenced off in front of the rotunda on the University of Virginia campus last week. The statue was the focal point of a clash last year between torch-carrying white supremacists and students the night before a rally that turned deadly.