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Mother of daughter killed by white supremacist shares message of love

Posted at 11:28 PM, Sep 07, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-07 23:40:39-04

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - A mother whose daughter was killed during a counterprotest of white supremacists in Charlottesville returns to Hampton Roads.

Susan Bro was in Newport News on Friday, spreading a message of love despite her monumental loss. She said a lot of people across the country have told her they have seen an increase of violence in their neighborhoods, but also an increase in the number of people willing to talk about it.

"Unfortunately it took the death of my daughter to wake up a lot of people who need to talk to one another. Until that happened, a lot of people pretended nothing was really wrong," said Bro.

A congregation of people at the Zion Baptist Church stood from their chairs and clapped their hands as Bro talked about the change that needs to happen.

She told News 3 in the year since her last visit, she has seen changes.

"Much more conversation, [many] more people willing to take a stand and [many] more people hopefully trying to find unity," Bro said.

Event organizer for the Southeast Community Day Parade & Festival and the Andrew Shannon Gospel Music Celebration, Andrew Shannon, attributes big changes in the community to her leadership.

"She helped us remove the name of a Confederate general off of a school and a Confederate president in Hampton, and build up," Shannon said.

Regardless of how far the country may have come, Bro says there is always more work to be done.

"Understand, that one person in office is not the problem. The problem comes in our hearts and we have to work one-on-one, heart-to-heart to solve our country's problems," she said.

Click here for our full coverage on the Charlottesville protest