One day after she was killed while protesting the Unite the Right white nationalist rally, a vigil is being held for Heather Heyer.
Watch the Facebook Live stream in the video at the top of the page.
Heyer, 32, was part of a group of counter protesters to the rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The group was marching down a street with LGBTQ flags and “Black Lives Matter” signs Saturday as a car allegedly driven by James Alex Fields Jr. ran into them. The car raced down the street, slamming into people before speeding away in reverse. Heyer was killed in the incident while 19 others were injured.
As news of Heyer’s death spread, the community mourned the loss of a fighter of injustice, racism and hate.
Several candlelight vigils were planned in Heyer’s memory for Sunday, with one being led by Congregate C’Ville, a faith mobilization organization.
Another vigil for Heyer was planned to take place Sunday evening, but was postponed “due to concerns of safety,” a post to the event’s Facebook page said.
Heyer has been described as a caring, joyful individual. Her mother, Susan Bro, told the Huffington Post one day after her daughter’s death that her daughter was at the counter protest to try and “bring an end to injustice.” She tearfully added that her daughter’s goal was always to stop hatred in the world.
“Heather was not about hate, Heather was about stopping Hatred,” she said to the outlet. “Heather was about bringing an end to injustice. I don’t want her death to be a focus for more hatred, I want her death to be a rallying cry for justice and equality and fairness and compassion.”
Bro said that often times, her daughter would open up her home to “friends who were having a hard time,” sometimes letting them stay with her for months.
“She always had a very strong sense of right and wrong,” Bro said to the HuffPo. “She always, even as a child, was very caught up in what she believed to be fair. Somehow I almost feel that this is what she was born to be, is a focal point for change. I’m proud that what she was doing was peaceful, she wasn’t there fighting with people.”
Bro <a href="http://told NBC News” target=”_blank”>told NBC News that she’ll be remembered as a “fun-loving, tenderhearted person” who she tried to teach to be open and respectful in any situation.
“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,” she said.
