Former Rare Staff
Tears flowed in Charlottesville, Va., on Sunday as hundreds of people gathered to remember the life of 32-year-old Heather Heyer. Heyer was killed on Saturday afternoon when a white supremacist allegedly drove his car into a crowd of people, killing Heyer and injuring over a dozen more. Heyer was one of the hundreds of counter-protestors who clashed with white supremacists in a series of rallies on Friday and Saturday.
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Just a day after her death, friends and mourners gathered at the spot where Heyer was killed to remember her life and work.
One of those mourners was 26-year-old Marcus Martin, a friend of Heyer’s who is the focal point of a photo of the car crash that has been seen around the world. With tears steaming down his face, Martin sat in a chair as he laid flowers at the spot where his friend died. Martin and others around him were wearing shirts that showcased a quote from Heyer’s last public Facebook post.
Shortly after the 2016 presidential election, Heyer posted an anonymous quote on her Facebook profile.
“If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.”
Heyer’s post from Nov. 19, 2016, has been shared over 20,000 times on Facebook and has become a rallying cry for those who stand up to white nationalism.
In a Sunday night interview with the New York Post, Heyer’s father tried to come to terms with his daughter’s death.
“My daughter was fighting for equal rights, demonstrating against hatred and doing what she thought was right,” Mark Heyer told the Post. “She ended up dying to prove it.
An emotional Heyer later added that he wasn’t “ready for all this.”
“I’m still working around the fact that my baby girl got killed.’’
Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro, gave further details about her daughter’s death to NBC News.
“She was there with her friends, and she was trying to simply cross the street as the movement was breaking up that day, and she was plowed down by a young man who was intent on spreading hate and thought hate would fix the world,” Bro said.
“I always encouraged her to be strong and strong-minded — even though that wasn’t always easy to raise — but I was always proud of what she was doing.”
Heather Heyer was as 2003 graduate of William Monroe High School in Stanardsville, Va.
The man alleged to have been behind the wheel of the car, James Alex Fields, is expected to make his first court appearance on Monday.
