It was hard to find the silver lining of the violence that erupted in Charlottesville this past weekend. People died attempting to defend what was right and just. As more and more footage rolled in, it became, perhaps for the first time, viscerally clear how much Donald Trump and his administration have given credence to the bigotry and hatred that exists within the hearts of so many Americans.
But if there were one bright spot in all of this, it’s that a man sacrificed himself for the sake of his fiancé.
When the driver drove through the crowd of people protesting against the White supremacists, Marcus Martin pushed his fiancé, Marissa Blair, out of the harm’s way. She dodged the oncoming vehicle, walking away with a scraped arm and bruised leg. Martin, suffered a broken leg.
Blair shared the story with The New York Times.
“We were just marching around, spreading love — and then the accident happened,” she said. “In a split second you see a car, and you see bodies flying.”
Seconds after the car plowed through the crowd, 27-year-old Blair started looking for Martin. When she first saw him, she said the sight terrified him. He was covered in blood.
The couple were taken to the hospital where doctors addressed his injury.
Later, they learned from a detective that Heather Heyer had been killed.
“I kind of knew and didn’t want to believe it. When the cop told me, I cried and sank to my knees. Heather was such a sweet soul, she did not deserve to die.”
Blair addressed President Trump’s inability or unwillingness to condemn the actions the protestors.
“He needs to call out the hate in this country, but he won’t. That’s what he ran his platform on, he ran his platform on hate. He won’t denounce white supremacy, he won’t denounce racism, because he’s scared he’s going to lose his followers. He needs to be worried about the United States, and not his followers, and not the power and not his publicity, and not his golf trips.”