Charlottesville Victim’s Mother Speaks Out: ‘They Tried to Kill My Child to Shut Her Up’ (Video)

Susan Bro says her daughter Heather Heyer died fighting for what she believed in

Susan Bro Heather Heyer Charlottesville MTV Video Music Awards
NBC News

The mother of Heather Heyer — the woman killed at a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend — spoke at her daughter’s memorial service on Wednesday, delivering a moving tribute and an impassioned call to action.

“I think the reason that what happened to Heather has struck a chord is because we know that what she did is achievable. We don’t all have to die. We don’t all have to sacrifice our lives,” Susan Bro said at the televised service. “They tried to kill my child to shut her up. Well guess what, you just magnified her.”

Heyer, 32, was killed on Saturday when a car rammed into a group of counterprotestors at a white nationalist gathering spurred by the city’s decision to remove a monument to Confederate leader Robert E. Lee.

Bro said her daughter died fighting for what she believed in, and called on others to not let Heyer’s death be in vain. She promised that this moment “is just the beginning of Heather’s legacy.”

“You need to find in your heart that small spark of accountability,” she said. “You poke that finger at yourself like Heather would’ve done, and you make it happen. You take that extra step. You find a way to make a difference in the world.”

“We are going to have our differences, we are going to be angry with each other,” Bro continued. “But let’s channel that anger not into hate, not into violence, not into fear. But let’s channel that difference, that anger into righteous anger.”

“I’d rather have my child, but by golly if I gotta give her up, we’re going to make it count,” she said.

Watch her full eulogy below:

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