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rug

(82,333 posts)
Wed Jan 15, 2014, 12:24 AM Jan 2014

There is a difference between us and them.



On June 22, 1996, a group of 17 Ku Klux Klan members met in the city hall of Ann Arbor, Michigan –fully clothed in hate robes. With intention to hold a rally, they were met with an angry group of 300 protestors who wanted them to know they weren’t welcome. In the midst of the protestors, majority black, someone spotted a middle-aged white man wearing a Confederate t-shirt. Through his clothes and “SS” tattoo, it appeared that he was a white supremacist.

Once his presence was made known, a crowd of angry people chased him down and began to beat him in the streets, one yelling “Kill the Nazi”. While there were policeman with gas masks and riot gear protecting the Klansman who wore full garb on the other side of the fence, there was no one protecting the man who chose to stand on the same side as the protestors to observe, while he wore a symbol that represented racism on his shirt.

After the man was on the ground, being kicked and beaten with wooden sticks, 18-year-old Keshia Thomas, a black woman, threw her body over his and protected the man from the beating.

http://blackamericaweb.com/180424/little-known-black-history-fact-keisha-thomas/



The man in the green tee shirt is seen here taking the first photograph.

I never heard of Keshia Thomas before.
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There is a difference between us and them. (Original Post) rug Jan 2014 OP
Thank you for posting this. I've been looking for it for a long time. Mister Ed Jan 2014 #1
This, and similar examples, need to be held up and shown to all. xfundy Jan 2014 #2
thanks. Ellipsis Jan 2014 #3
Thank you Keshia, for you humanity. sheshe2 Jan 2014 #4
She is a REAL AMERICAN. Look at it and learn, America. n/t freshwest Jan 2014 #5
She's a real HUMAN TroglodyteScholar Jan 2014 #6
No, it's normal. I've done the same, just not in a riot. The heart knows what to do. n/t freshwest Jan 2014 #7

Mister Ed

(5,944 posts)
1. Thank you for posting this. I've been looking for it for a long time.
Wed Jan 15, 2014, 12:40 AM
Jan 2014

I remember seeing a video clip of this incident as a closing trailer on one of the three major-network nightly news programs one night in the 90's. I couldn't remember what year, or which network.

What I do remember is the anguished voice of the young woman as she barreled through that knot of people who had surrounded the neo-Nazi, and were kicking him as he lay on the ground. "Sto-o-o-o-p!", she wailed as she sprawled over his prostrate form, "You're hurting him!"

I don't know when I've ever seen anything more touchingly, profoundly human in my life.

xfundy

(5,105 posts)
2. This, and similar examples, need to be held up and shown to all.
Wed Jan 15, 2014, 01:09 AM
Jan 2014

Racism is now running as hot and free as it ever did in the USA. Courageous woman, armed with humanity. She deserves a medal, or at least decent healthcare and a place to live in peace and tranquility.

sheshe2

(83,927 posts)
4. Thank you Keshia, for you humanity.
Wed Jan 15, 2014, 02:12 AM
Jan 2014
When asked why she helped him, Keshia Thomas said “…violence is violence – nobody deserves to be hurt, especially not for an idea.” Thomas admits to being a victim of violence and a spiritual person who believed that beating the man was wrong.

Keshia Thomas never knew that man she saved, nor did she seek him out for thanks. However, a few months later, the man’s son thanked her in a coffee shop.

The images of the incident will live on, capturing the bravery of a high school girl who saved someone who may not have saved her in the same situation.

http://blackamericaweb.com/180424/little-known-black-history-fact-keisha-thomas/2/

Thank you rug for a very important thread.
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