Heather Heyer’s mom tells white nationalists they didn’t shut up her daughter; ‘you just magnified her’
WASHINGTON – Hundreds of mourners gathered in Charlottesville, Va., Wednesday to celebrate the life of Heather Heyer, the 32-year-old wwoman who was mowed down by a car that rammed into counter-protesters at a white supremacist rally in the city on Saturday.
Many of the attendees wore purple, Heyer’s favorite color. Her family recalled her lifelong passion for justice and her concern for others.
Her mother, Susan Bro, had a special message for white nationalists.
“They tried to kill my child to shut her up. Well, guess what? You just magnified her,” Bro said to a standing ovation.
She urged everyone to continue Heyer’s legacy by finding “a way to make a difference.” She read her daughter’s last Facebook post – “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.”
“I’d rather have my child, but by golly, if I’ve got to give her up, we’re going to make it count,” she said.
Heyer’s grandfather, Elwood Shrader, recalled that Heyer had a passion for justice from a young age, calling out inequalities whenever she saw them.
Heyer’s father recalled her passion and urged others to honor her legacy.
“She loved people. She wanted equality. And this issue of the day of her passing she wanted to put down hate,” Mark Heyer said, while holding back tears. “We just need to stop all this stuff and forgive each other.”
The article is republished with permission from Talk Media News.
Regina Holmes has more than two decades of experience as a journalist –editing and reporting for news dailies including the Miami Herald, Newsday and the Baltimore Examiner.