'That’s how you’re going to make my child’s death worthwhile'

Susan Bro is the mother of Heather Heyer, the young protestor run down in Charlottesville by a neo Nazi. This is the eulogy she delivered for her daughter.

On a day when Trump is somehow being declared the winner of a debate (I don’t need to watch it — for me, any Biden mumbles or stumbles will never negate Trump’s essence of being, which is narcissistic sociopathy). On a worrying day, when the unthinkable seems very much the more likely scenario, I thought it might be good to remember a beautiful speech by the mother of Heather Heyer, the young woman run down by a neo Nazi at Charlottesville.

‘Very fine people on both sides’ Trump told us back in 2017, giving a back slap to the same calibre of people he’d conscript four years later to overrun the Capitol.

But enough about Trump’s horrible leering petulance.

Below is Susan Bro, performing the nightmare task of speaking at a daughter’s funeral, with the added dagger of her being victim of a hate crime that has appalled the world.

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Best wishes

Tony Wilson

For Heather Heyer: 'You never think you’re going to bury your child', by Susan Bro - 2017

16 August 2017, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

My child’s famous Facebook post was: "If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention." She paid attention. She made a lot of us pay attention. Oh, my gosh, dinner with her, we knew, was going to be an ordeal of listening. And conversation. And perhaps disagreement, but it was going to happen. And so, my husband would say, "OK, I’m going to go out in the car and play on my video game for a while." And we would sit and would grill. And she and I would talk, and I would listen. And we would negotiate, and I would listen.