08-14-2017, 07:58 AM
So yesterday, I went over for a vigil for Heather Heyer. Met up with some friends that live there and we walked around where everything happen. It's just a bit unreal. Seeing the blood stains on the pavement after an event like this is something that will stick with you. I also purposely went to the parking garage where a black man was beaten nearly to death with poles by a handful of Nazis. This took place right next to the police station.
I came home to attend our local event for Charlottesville. Because of our proximity, a lot of people in the crowd had gone over for the counter-protests. It was a wonderful time, and while it left me, and others, emotionally raw, it was a good time for healing.
I wanted to say something, though. I've been a bit heated with all of this going on. I can get feisty sometimes, but it got more so. Western Virginia isn't an area that makes the headlines globally. UVA and VT, sure, but they exist in a status of their own. Charlottesville and Blacksburg aren't really mentioned much beyond "where UVA/VT is located." The names of the cities west of Richmond don't come out of the mouths of elected officials that don't directly represent us unless they are here pandering to us for some reason. We are "metropolitan areas," but we are anything but. So when we see a city so close by get this kind of attention and have something like this unfurl, it is insane. We're talking about a place where my wife was born and raised. Where her mother lived until her death, where her godmother and most of her friends still do live. Where we do most of our Christmas shopping. Where we go apple picking in the fall and eat fresh, hot, apple cider donuts. Where I spent evenings in my teen years at punk and metal shows (and goth shows, though I got dragged to those). Right where the terrorist slammed his car into the crowd, there is a foundation's office door. I've been there many times working with agencies they support.
When this happens somewhere like this, where you spend so much time and know so many people, it makes it different. It makes you angry. And that is what has been going on, here. I hope you never have to experience it.
I came home to attend our local event for Charlottesville. Because of our proximity, a lot of people in the crowd had gone over for the counter-protests. It was a wonderful time, and while it left me, and others, emotionally raw, it was a good time for healing.
I wanted to say something, though. I've been a bit heated with all of this going on. I can get feisty sometimes, but it got more so. Western Virginia isn't an area that makes the headlines globally. UVA and VT, sure, but they exist in a status of their own. Charlottesville and Blacksburg aren't really mentioned much beyond "where UVA/VT is located." The names of the cities west of Richmond don't come out of the mouths of elected officials that don't directly represent us unless they are here pandering to us for some reason. We are "metropolitan areas," but we are anything but. So when we see a city so close by get this kind of attention and have something like this unfurl, it is insane. We're talking about a place where my wife was born and raised. Where her mother lived until her death, where her godmother and most of her friends still do live. Where we do most of our Christmas shopping. Where we go apple picking in the fall and eat fresh, hot, apple cider donuts. Where I spent evenings in my teen years at punk and metal shows (and goth shows, though I got dragged to those). Right where the terrorist slammed his car into the crowd, there is a foundation's office door. I've been there many times working with agencies they support.
When this happens somewhere like this, where you spend so much time and know so many people, it makes it different. It makes you angry. And that is what has been going on, here. I hope you never have to experience it.
