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Trump tried to call Heather Heyer's mother during funeral, but she says she won't speak to him

Heather Heyer's mother says she will not talk to President Donald Trump after he blamed "both sides" for violence in Charlottesville.

www.newsweek.com

Susan Bro, the mother of Heather Heyer, who was killed during last Saturday's white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, said Friday she has not spoken to President Donald Trump and “now I will not,” following his comments at a press conference Tuesday.

“I have not and I now I will not,” she told ABC’s Good Morning America. “At first I just missed his calls. The first call, it actually looked like it came during the funeral. I didn’t even see that message. There were three more frantic messages from press secretaries throughout the day, and I didn’t know why.

“I was home recovering from the exhaustion of the funeral, so I thought. Well, I’d get to them later. And then I had more meetings to establish her foundation. So I hadn’t really watched the news until last night.”

And we have a guy in the White House — I’m not gonna say his f*cking name — who defined that moment not just for Americans but the world, and that motherf*cker was given the chance to say we are about love, not hate. And that motherf*cker did not denounce the motherf*cking Klan, the alt-right, and those Nazis motherf*ckers. It was a defining moment, and he could have said to the world, not just the United States, that we were better than that.

We look to our leaders. They give us direction to make moral decisions. And I like to say this is not just something that pertains to the United States of America, this bullsh*t has gone over the world.

So this film, to me, is a wake-up call because … stuff is happening, and it’s topsy-turvy and the fake has been trumpeted as the truth. That’s what this film is about.

Right away, I knew that this had to be the coda for the film, but I had to do something first. I was given Susan Bro’s phone number. She is the mother of Heather Heyer, who got murdered when that car came crashing down the street. I was not gonna put that murder scene in the film without her blessing. Mrs. Bro said, ‘Spike, I give you permission to put that in.’ Once I got permission, I said, ‘F*ck everybody else, that motherf*cking scene is staying in the motherfucking movie.’ Cuz that was a murder.

Neo-Nazi Who Rammed His Car Into Anti-Fascist Protesters Charged With First-Degree Murder

James Alex Fields Jr., the 20-year-old neo-Nazi who allegedly injured 35 people and killed one woman when he plowed his car through a crowd of anti-fascists at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in August, has been charged with first-degree murder.

jezebel.com|Prachi Gupta

James Alex Fields Jr., the 20-year-old neo-Nazi who allegedly injured 35 people and killed one woman when he plowed his car through a crowd of anti-fascists at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in August, has been charged with first-degree murder.

Fields was charged in the killing of 32-year-old Heather Heyer, a counter-protester who was peacefully demonstrating against white supremacists. On Thursday, prosecutor Joe Platania announced the charge against Fields had been upgraded from second-degree murder to first-degree, after testimony from law enforcement officials cited evidence that Fields intentionally crashed his car into the protesters.

The Washington Post reports that Fields has also been “charged with eight counts of ‘aggravated malicious wounding,’ meaning that at least eight of the 35 people who were hurt suffered what Virginia law describes as ‘permanent and significant physical impairment.’”

James Fields walked into the former Nazi concentration camp in Dachau, Germany, on a school trip two years ago and told a classmate he was “where the magic happened.”

Several students who attended Randall K. Cooper High School with Fields in Union, Kentucky, recalled him as an angry young man who spoke admiringly about the Nazis and Adolf Hitler.

At Dachau, Fields looked like “a kid at an amusement park,” said the classmate, who asked not to be identified for fear of being targeted.

“He would read excerpts from Mein Kampf, and listen to Nazi propaganda music at night,” the classmate told Reuters.

• Charge upgraded to first-degree murder for driver accused of ramming Charlottesville crowd, Washington Post
• Charlottesville car attack suspect charged with five additional felonies, CNN

Heather Heyer's Mom: I Have To Hide Her Grave From The Nazis

In a candid interview, Susan Bro tells Tim Teeman about holding President Trump responsible for Heather’s death, facing her daughter’s alleged killer, and why her grave is secret.

www.thedailybeast.com

This site cannot be publicly known because of all those extremists who profess their hatred for Heyer and Bro, and who convey their continued threats of violence toward Bro and others of Heyer’s family.

The location is also secret to protect those who work there, says Bro.

When I ask if she holds President Trump in any way responsible for her daughter’s death, 

Bro says: “I’m starting to come to that conclusion because he definitely pushes forward a hateful agenda.” 

“I choose not to poke the bear in power, but I’m definitely not happy with how he has chosen to drive forward with white supremacy and neo-Nazis.”

Foundation Started by Charlottesville Victim’s Mother Promotes Social Justice

The mother of the victim, Heather D. Heyer, said she wanted the country to learn a lesson she had taught her daughter: Disputes can be de-escalated before they become violent.

www.nytimes.com|Yamiche Alcindor

In sixth grade, Heather D. Heyer, the woman killed during the recent unrest in Charlottesville, Va., got into a heated dispute with a classmate who challenged her to a fight after school.

Ms. Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro, said in an interview on Friday that her daughter turned to her for advice, and that she transformed the confrontation into a teachable moment.

Now, through a foundation bearing her daughter’s name, Ms. Bro wants the country to learn the same lesson she taught her daughter: Disputes that careen toward violence can be de-escalated by communicating in a peaceful tone, not compromising personal values and, sometimes, agreeing to disagree.

“We want to see more of that happen and have people recognize that you don’t have to respond in violence. You don’t have to respond in hate. If you see something that is making you unhappy, then speak up about it.”

As part of her efforts to cement her daughter’s legacy, Ms. Bro was traveling to California this weekend to present the “Best Fight Against the System” award on Sunday at the MTV Video Music Awards. The award celebrates activism around issues like environmental justice, immigration, L.G.B.T.Q. equality and racial justice.

The Heather Heyer Foundation was created to honor Heather Heyer, a young civil rights activist, who dedicated her life to promoting equal rights for all people. The Foundation has established a scholarship program to provide financial assistance to individuals passionate about positive social change. Scholarships will be awarded to those seeking a degree or certification in, but not limited to, law, paralegal studies, social work, social justice, and education.