Posted on 10/30/2013 3:22:18 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Keshia Thomas, a Black woman who protected a White man at a Ku Klux Klan rally back in 1996, recently recalled her act, according to BBC News.
“I knew what it was like to be hurt,” Thomas said. “The many times that, that happened, I wish someone would have stood up for me.”
Thomas was 18 years old, when Klansmen decided to hold a rally in Ann Arbor, Mich., her hometown. Known for being a heavily liberal and multiracial area, hundreds of residents gathered in a show of force against the group.
Though officers protected the White supremacists with riot gear and protesters were held behind a fence, the rally soon turned hostile. A woman holding a megaphone reportedly noticed a White man among them wearing a confederate T-shirt. She reportedly notified protesters who then proceeded to chase him from the crowd.
Though it’s not known if the man was a Klan member, protesters allegedly yelled, “Kill the Nazi,” before knocking him down. They reportedly began attacking him with wooden sticks from their signs.
For Thomas, the situation had clearly gotten out of hand.
“When people are in a crowd, they are more likely to do things they would never do as an individual. Someone had to step out of the pack and say, ‘This isn’t right.’” she said.
Consequently, Thomas threw herself over the man, protecting him from further harm.
Then-student photographer Mark Brunner, who photographed the motion, was amazed by Thomas’ actions.
“She put herself at physical risk to protect someone who, in my opinion, would not have done the same for her,” he said. “Who does that in this world?” According to Thomas, “Violence is violence — nobody deserves to be hurt, especially not for an idea.” Now in her 30s, Thomas has never heard from the man, but she did have an encounter with someone close to him: Months after the gesture, a man reportedly approached her in a coffee shop and thanked her. When she asked why, he said, ”That was my dad.”
Knowing the man had a son put things in even greater perspective for Thomas. ”For the most part, people who hurt…they come from hurt. It is a cycle. Let’s say they had killed him or hurt him really bad. How does the son feel? Does he carry on the violence?”
Now living in Texas, Thomas says she is looking toward the future and not her past.
“I don’t want to think that this is the best I could ever be. In life you are always striving to do better.” she said. “The biggest thing you can do is just be kind to another human being. It can come down to eye contact or a smile. It doesn’t have to be a huge monumental act.”
She’s an Uncle Tom. Anyone who has read the novel will know exactly what I’m talking about, and understand that I’m saying that as a compliment.
The entire thing looks staged to me. The date, the cast of characters....the over dramatic poses...I can’t believe some Freepers are falling for this.
Then again, some missed obvious sarcasm today on another thread. Is Obama making us dumber?
(SNIP) Thomas ... has at least one unlikely new admirer. "We bless her," says Jeffery Berry, 43, a National Imperial Wizard of the KKK and a Newville, Ind., tow-truck operator. "If you get ahold of her, tell her that Jeff Berry thanks her."
Interesting.
She did the moral and ethical thing when it was far from the easy thing to do.
I don’t doubt it was staged in 1996 and reported in 96, but I still say it looks phony, false and overly dramatic. I can believe PEOPLE Mag falling for it....then and now....
Equating race and culture is central to all ‘liberal’ and ‘progressive’ beliefs.
So the KKK is indeed stupid, but the majority of America’s elite believe the same stupid thing.
VERY Well Said Grace, thank you for your Kind Words, G-d Bless You, though I am sure he already has!
It is Character that matters, not race or gender.
There is also nothing wrong with being excepting of Other Cultures, what was that old Saw about the old American Melting Pot?
FReepers Quick, Raise your hand if you or wife or children are multi Racial, Multi Religion, of different nationally or economic background.
My Guess that would be....all of us!
Granny always said she thought there was an indian in the woodpile somewhere.
What a weird title
According to Romney at least :p
>>I used to know a guy who was an American Nazi (yes, he was CREEPY). They hate the Klan, and I assume vice versa. Who would have ever thought?
Read the 3rd quote on my FR profile page, the two-paragraph one by Hayek. He makes interesting observations about between-the-wars Nazis and Communists in Germany.
I expect a similar dynamic is at work.
That’s why the Nazi flag and other symbols were red. They admitted to this in their diaries, IIRC.
“That’s why the Nazi flag and other symbols were red. They admitted to this in their diaries, IIRC.”
Hitler admitted in his book something along the lines that he felt he could lead workers to his movement by stealing the red from the communists.
I was in A2 working on a masters at the time. It happened.
What’s your problem - you don’t think black people can do something heroic? You don’t think black people can feel others’ pain?
You don’t have to have thousands to have a rally, you know. You can have 10 people, get a permit, and march down Main Street.
Wow,what an absurd and totally incoherent response from you, way off the deep end like someone mentally disturbed.
My problem? None, but my radar tells me this is a staged photo, a staged event, to make a political point. My instincts are normally (not 100%, but usually) right when liberals stage something to make a point.
Your racist charge outs you as a liberal troll. Bye.
These days, I suspect the Klan is a bunch of federal informants waiting for some idiot saying he wants to join up.
Okay, so your instincts tell you it was staged and it’s not because you’re racist.
What part do you think didn’t happen? The Klan rally? The guy getting beat up? The woman saving him? Who was in on the staged photo? What’s your alternate scenario that’s more plausible than the way it’s reported? I’m interested in the details, because it sounds like it would be a great story.
My instincts tell me, because I understand exactly how the media uses phony events to promote their cause, especially the cause of accusing all conservatives of being white.
This looks just as phony to me as those planted scenarios at many tea party events. As for a klan rally in a liberal university town just outside of Detroit in the mid 90s? May have happened, but I doubt it was big. I haven’t seen anything like that in eastern NC in 50 years...let alone the 90s....
But that’s beside the point....to me it just smacks of the very same thing done at tea party rallies in the past couple of years. Having hyper instincts is a burden sometimes....
Well, as someone else noted, they were in Ann Arbor when this happened. I also lived in the Midwest at this time and there was a resurgence of Klan rallies in the mid 90s. The Klan presence was never very large, but the counter demonstrations sometimes drew a large presence. So the rallies did happen, we saw them. The particular story here, the pictures do seem convincing. It’s either completely staged, which is not the left’s typical MO, or they convinced some stupid actor to put on a fake SS tattoo and risk getting killed by a violent crowd.
I agree with you that left is very good at creating convincing lies, but this doesn’t seem like one of them.
Then the only thing you and I disagree on is whether or not this particular photo was staged. Which is fine.
Which of course means we agree that no large Klan rally happened.
We agree that the left is always looking to fake these kinds of things in general.
And now you should agree that it was absurd and uncalled for - for you to play the race card on me. In fact, your entire accusatory attitude was baseless and quite like how a liberal would be expected to respond....
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