Heather Heyer's Mom Says She Won't Speak to Donald Trump 'After What He Said About My Child'
Susan Bro, the mother of Heather Heyer, the anti-racist protester who was allegedly murdered by a white supremacist in Charlottesville, VA, appeared on Friday’s Good Morning America, where she stated in unequivocal terms that, despite Donald Trump’s mealy mouthed lip-service to her daughter, she has no plans to ever speak to him.
When asked whether she had spoken already with Trump in the week since her daughter was allegedly killed in a terror attack by neo-Nazi sympathizer James Fields Jr., Bro said, “I have not, and now I will not.”
Traditionally, after acts of terrorism, the President of the United States is expected to call the families of the victims to offer support and sympathies. Before reaching out to Heyer’s parents, however, Trump had already gone out of his way to make tacky proclamations about her on Twitter, while simultaneously equating the white supremacist marchers in Charlottesville with the counter-protesters there to stand up against the open display of hatred.
In fact, it wasn’t until days after her daughter’s death that Trump first attempted to call Bro—right in the middle of Heyer’s funeral service.
“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,” Bro explained. “That was on Wednesday.”
But the final straw for Bro came after watching clips of President Trump’s unhinged Tuesday press conference, in which he insisted there were “some very fine people” on “both sides” of last weekend’s white supremacist march.
“I’m not talking to the president now. I’m sorry. After what he said about my child,” she said. “It’s not that I saw somebody else’s tweets about him. I saw an actual clip of him at a press conference equating the protesters—like Ms. Heyer—with the KKK and the white supremacists.”
Initially, Bro had applauded Trump’s (second) statement on the Charlottesville race riot, in which he had explicitly called out racist elements involved in the rally by name. However, upon seeing the president’s reversion to his more natural, racist form, Bro had had enough.
“You can’t wash this one away by shaking my hand and saying I’m sorry.”
According to Bro, she is currently at work setting up a foundation in her daughter’s honor.