#Charlottesville

Those assembled to peacefully protest in opposition to hatred in Charlottesville on Saturday are heirs to a legacy of upholding, justice, equality, fairness, and compassion. The values Heather Heyer’s mother sites as a rallying cry for her murdered daughter.

The valorizers of violence and hatred, the white supremacists, the neo-Nazis, and the KKK, they hold as heroes the perpetrators of crimes against humanity and deny the humanity of the innocents their hatred targets – innocents like Heather Heyer and the many injured in a brutal domestic terror attack. Their menacing hatred will not prevail.

The courageous spirit that animates Heather Heyer’s protest, and that of all the anti-fascism protesters, links to a struggle for human dignity that traverses continents and spans generations – from the Salt March, to the March on Washington, from Selma, Alabama to Soweto, South Africa. As we pray for the friends and families of those killed and gravely injured in the attack, we must continue to uphold their legacy and the legacy of people of good conscience the world over.