CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (WVIR/CNN) – The city of Charlottesville will rename a downtown street after Heather Heyer, the woman who died amid protests in August.
Heyer, 32, was marching with a group of counter-protesters when a car drove into the crowd, killing her and injuring several other people. The location on 4th Street was initially marked with flowers, chalked messages and candles, but soon, there will be a more permanent memorial.
Charlottesville City Council unanimously passed a resolution Monday to designate the street as Heather Heyer Way.
"She just made a sacrifice that means a lot to people from all around the world, so I thought that this would be a small gesture that could mark the spot perhaps,” said Susan Bro, Heyer’s mother.
Bro is the one who requested the sign be added from City Council instead of a park or statue in her daughter’s memory.
"My goal was never to replace a Confederate statue with one of Heather, and any of Heather's family and friends who knew anything about statues said absolutely Heather would be mortified and think it was hilarious,” Bro said.
Heyer’s mother says she hopes the renamed street will help solidify her daughter’s legacy.
"Even the thought of going there now is very challenging. I didn't even go to the site until a week after she passed away, and that was very, very difficult,” Bro said. "For me, that spot is the site of my daughter’s murder. It was the site where she did her last selfless act."
Bro says she recently found out Heyer pushed a young girl out of the way of the oncoming vehicle.
"She's certainly my hero for that. I don't know if I would have been that smart and that brave in that moment to think to push someone else out of the way, but she did it,” Bro said.
Bro now spends her days working on the Heather Heyer Foundation and says she hopes the sign ignites a larger conversation.
"That's what Heather was often all about was trying to have those difficult conversations with people to explain themselves, to explain their actions, and so maybe that memorial will help keep that spark alive,” Bro said. "The ultimate legacy for me is internal changes in people and how that movement has taken off around the world."
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