Susan Bro, the mother of the woman killed during the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va. a year ago, says it took the death of her daughter for “white people to wake up and pay attention.”

"Unfortunately, we’re still at such a racial divide that it took a white girl dying for white people to wake up and pay attention," Bro told USA Today in an interview published on Thursday.

Bro said people of color "have been fighting this fight for many years – this is not news to them."

"The country is very polarized, but I think this has been simmering below the surface for many years," she said. "It’s just now coming out, and so we need to get to the root of it: clear it out, heal our country from the roots up."

Bro's daughter, Heather Heyer was killed in Charlottesville, where white nationalists last year held the "Unite the Right" rally. A car driven by a man with alleged neo-Nazi ties rammed into a group of anti-racist protesters, killing Heyer, who was 32.

Bro currently runs the Heather Heyer Foundation, which provides college aid to students who share her daughter’s passion for social justice. Bro said her life was turned upside down after her daughter’s death and she decided to start the foundation to train “Heather's replacement."

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"I turned my attention to carrying forth her message," Bro told the paper. "You don’t get to silence my kid and get away with it. I'm going to speak even louder."

Bro also shared her reaction to seeing President Trump Donald John TrumpSteele Dossier sub-source was subject of FBI counterintelligence probe Pelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Trump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance MORE say there was “blame on both sides” for the deadly violence in Charlottesville, remarks which created a firestorm of controversy.

"I was like, 'I’m kinda done with this.' I don’t really need to talk to him, I don’t really care what he has to say," she said of the president’s remarks. "He’s a busy man, I’m a busy woman. I don’t think we need to bother each other."

Her remarks come just days before the “Unite the Right 2” rally scheduled to take place this coming weekend in Washington D.C.

Civil rights groups and others are also planning counterprotests.

Bro said she plans to attend an NAACP meeting that same day and deliver remarks on how America can heal. She will also place flowers at her daughter’s grave.