Mother Of Charlottesville Riot Victim, Heather Heyer, Thanks Donald Trump For Condemning Nazis In Speech

Susan Bro, the mother of Heather Heyer, the 32-year-old paralegal who died after a car drove through a crowd of counter-protesters during the Charlottesville white nationalist riots that broke out over the weekend, released a public statement thanking Donald Trump for his comments on Monday condemning the actions of the white supremacists, reports The Daily Caller.

“Two days ago, a young American woman, Heather Heyer, was tragically killed. Her death fills us with grief, and we send her family our thoughts, our prayers, and our love,” Trump said Monday. “Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans,” he continued.

In response, Susan Bro said, “Thank you, President Trump, for those words of comfort and for denouncing those who promote violence and hatred.”

While Heather Heyer’s mother may be satisfied with Donald Trump’s stance on the riots, much of the public, including several public Republican figures, have condemned Trump for taking so long to directly address the groups who started the violence by name.

Donald Trump’s first statement, which occurred hours after the riots had subsided, skirted around the issue at hand. Instead of placing the blame on the group of neo-Nazis, Trump made a vague statement which condemned the hate on “all sides,” implying that the counter-protesters were also at fault. In the same statement, he absolved himself from any blame, noting that this has been going on for a long time.

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides, on many sides,” Trump said in a short statement.

Flowers were laid Sunday at a makeshift memorial for 32-year-old Heather Heyer, who was killed Saturday when a car rammed into a crowd of people protesting against the white supremacist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The incident left Heyer dead and at least 19 other people injured. 20-year-old James Alex Fields Jr. of Maumee, Ohio, faces charges of second-degree murder. The Department of Justice and the FBI have launched a civil rights investigation into the deadly crash. President Trump denounced what he called an “egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides.” Many people, both Democrats and Republicans, criticized the President for not explicitly denouncing white supremacists. (????: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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“It has been going on for a long time in our country — not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama. It has been going on for a long, long time. It has no place in America,” he continued.

A counter-protester holds a sign at a white supremacists rally in #Charlottesville, Virginia, that descended into violence on Friday afternoon. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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Donald Trump’s second statement did manage to call out “neo-Nazis” and other hate groups, but the public felt that it was disingenuous, due to the length of time it took him to do so, especially considering how outspoken he is about almost everything else.

What do you think about Heather Heyer’s mother thanking Trump for his statements? You can sound off in the comment section below.

[Featured Image by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]