BEDFORD, Va. — Less than 100 miles from Charlottesville, where protesters clashed violently with white supremacists over the weekend, this small town of less than 7,000 put together a community healing event at Centertown Plaza where more than 50 attendees shared thoughts and held vigil for the three people who died Saturday.

Those gathered held signs and lit candles for the two Virginia State Troopers who perished in a helicopter crash while providing air support for law enforcement on the ground and for the 32-year-old woman who was killed when a car drove through a crowd of protestors in downtown Charlottesville.

The event was put together in less than 24 hours to synchronize with similar events across the country held Sunday night. Bedford United organizer Kim Kirsch said she arranged the vigil via Facebook after learning the closest similar event was taking place in Roanoke, Va.

Kirsch told the group she wanted the Bedford community to have the opportunity to come together on its own.

Speakers included Bedford Town Manager Bart Warner and other community members and leaders.

A follow-up event is scheduled for Sept. 17.

U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela (D-Texas) made headlines earlier this week when he penned a heated open letter to Donald Trump, but it’s not the first time Vela has been vocal about his opposition to the border fence.

Vela, whose father was a long-serving federal judge,  led a Congressional visit to the U.S.-Mexico border in 2013 while the Senate’s “Gang of Eight” bill was still on life support in the U.S. House of Representatives. He and U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva (Arizona) filed a bill to resurrect the immigration reform effort before the end of the session, but Syria and mounting Republican opposition to the Affordable Care Act ultimately derailed any chance at governance, culminating with a fortnight-long government shutdown.

Vela’s proposed bill sought to eliminate the conditions in the Senate immigration bill which required border security benchmarks be met before the creation of a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already in the country.

“We’re talking about the 11 million that are already here,” Vela said in 2013. “For sure we need to put in place security measures and they can take many shapes.

“But it shouldn’t be conditional.”

President Barack Obama has said it was the inaction of Congress that led him to issue executive orders allowing temporary visas for the undocumented parents of U.S. citizens. That program has been held up by the courts.

It had been a long and tiresome journey. Continue reading →