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A6 U.S. NEWS
Wednesday 8 august 2018

A year after deadly Virginia rally, wounds are still raw

By SARAH RANKIN opment.
Associated Press Meanwhile, there’s been
Sometimes Alfred Wilson a churn in leadership. The
still has to take a moment city attorney took a new
to collect himself after he job, the city manager’s
pulls open files at the law contract was not renewed,
firm where he works and a spokeswoman quit and
sees Heather Heyer’s hand- the police chief, 50 at the
writing. time, retired after less than
“I get choked up and have two years on the job.
to gather myself before The five-person city coun-
I talk to the client,” said cil has two new faces, and
Wilson, who hired Heyer, the group picked a differ-
the 32-year-old paralegal ent mayor, Nikuyah Walk-
killed nearly a year ago in er, a black woman who
a car attack during a vio- ran as an independent in
lent white nationalist rally in the staunchly Democratic
Charlottesville, Virginia. town and was previously
The rally that left Heyer one of the council’s stron-
dead and dozens more gest critics.
injured proved to be a wa- Walker has clashed public-
tershed moment, both for ly with other council mem-
the racist, fringe “alt-right” bers on multiple issues,
movement, and for the In this Monday, Aug. 6, 2018 photo, Susan Bro, mother of Heather Heyer, who was killed during the such as hiring an interim
city itself. In the year since, Unite the Right rally last year, looks over memorabilia in her office in Charlottesville, Va. city manager. She recent-
many residents like Wilson Associated Press ly took to social media to
say the wounds haven’t people, mostly white folks, of Virginia hospital, Brown- slavery, its affordable hous- criticize the candidate, the
healed. Others say the kept saying, ‘This isn’t Char- Grooms said white suprem- ing crunch and the police way he was selected and
violence has laid bare di- lottesville,’” said Brenda acy was present in Charlot- department’s relationship her fellow councilors’ be-
visions over deeper issues Brown-Grooms, a local pas- tesville long before the rally with the black community, havior. The council’s dra-
of race and economic in- tor and activist. “I wonder and is the “elephant in the among other issues, since ma doesn’t seem to affect
equality and what should what planet they live on. room” the city now must the Aug. 12 rally. most residents, who “just go
be done to move forward. This is exactly who we are.” deal with. The event was one of the on with our lives and watch
“One of my hugest gripes A Charlottesville native, Activists have pushed lead- largest gatherings of white with quiet amusement,”
with last year with the peo- born in the segregated ersto address the city’s nationalists and far-right said Charles “Buddy” We-
ple of this town was that basement of the University legacies of racism and extremists in a decade. ber, an attorney and long-
Many participants dressed time resident involved in a
as if they were headed to lawsuit seeking to stop the
battle, shouted racist slurs city from removing the Lee
and clashed violently with monument. Weber em-
counterprotesters. Mean- phasized that not everyone
while, authorities largely in Charlottesville agrees on
stood by on the fringes of the extent and nature of
the action near a down- the city’s problems.
town park with a statue of While the city’s been strug-
Confederate Gen. Robert gling to find its footing,
E. Lee that the city wanted some alt-right leaders are
to remove. faltering. The rally violence
In the year since, the city proved a costly debacle
has taken steps toward for leading figures such as
meeting some of the ac- white nationalist Richard
tivists’ demands, despite Spencer and others who
resistance on some issues are fighting lawsuits. Many
from the Republican-con- in the movement have
trolled state legislature . been booted from main-
Lawmakers defeated ev- stream internet platforms.
ery bill Charlottesville sup- A few have dropped out
ported in the rally’s after- altogether.
math, including measures Only one organizer of last
dealing with cities’ abilities summer’s rally seems intent
to remove Confederate on publicly marking the
monuments. Responding anniversary. Jason Kessler,
in part to calls for a closer a Charlottesville resident
look at stop-and-frisk poli- and UVA graduate, sued
cies that disproportionately the city after it denied him
affect black residents, the a permit for an anniver-
city established a new Po- sary event. Kessler recently
lice Civilian Review Board. abandoned his lawsuit, but
The city also has approved he vowed to press ahead
funds for affordable hous- with plans for an Aug. 12
ing and workforce devel- rally in Washington, D.C.q