Susan Bro, the mother of Heather Heyer, spoke out against the president in her first interview since her daughter’s death in August.
Bro was asked about President Donald Trump‘s culpability in her daughter’s murder by the Daily Beast. Bro said that, “I’m starting to come to that conclusion because he definitely pushes forward a hateful agenda.”
Heyer was killed while protesting a neo-Nazi and white supremacy rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which had been organized under the auspices of supporting Confederate statues. On Saturday, Aug. 12, James Alex Fields Jr., a 20-year-old Nazi sympathizer from Ohio, drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing Heyer.
After the rally, Trump was panned for his response, which many considered a tacit endorsement of white supremacy. In her new interview, Bro says she doesn’t wish to speak to Tump: “He doesn’t bother to think before speaks, or very calculatedly is trying to manipulate all of us.”
Now, Bro says she can’t even disclose the location of her daughter’s resting place to close friends, out of fear the news will get out and far-right activists will attempt to find Heyer: “It’s a symptom of hate in society that you should have to protect your child’s grave, for Pete’s sake. So, I’m protecting my child now.”
Ultimately, though, Bro holds Fields responsible for her daughter’s death: “Nobody made him do anything. I know he claims he felt threatened. The only time people were attacking his car was when he drove into a crowd, and people were attacking his car because he was driving over top of them. He was not under any attack until he drove into the crowd.”
A preliminary hearing for Fields, who was charged with second-degree murder, is being held today in Charlottesville.
You can read the Daily Beast‘s whole interview here.