Could you have done this?
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MzKB
Members Posts: 3,366 ✭✭✭✭✭
This took place June 1996 in Ann Harbor, Michigan
Images of a black teenager leaping into harm’s way to protect an alleged Ku Klux ? member from an angry mob have lost none of their impact 17 years later.
Keshia Thomas spoke with the BBC about the day when 17 KKK members held a rally.
Hundreds of locals had arrived to protest their presence, while police with riot gear and tear gas protected the Klansmen. An 18-year-old Thomas stood with the National Women’s Rights Organizations Coalition protestors behind a purpose-built fence, when someone in the crowd noticed a white man with a Confederate flag T-shirt and an SS tattoo among them.
A woman with a megaphone shouted her accusation, “There’s a Klansman in the crowd.”
As the man tried to get away, Thomas was among the crowd that gave chase.
He started to run when cries of “? the ? ” rang out, but soon fell to the ground. Protestors began to kick and strike the man with placards.
As the blows continued to rain down, a horrified Thomas threw herself on top of the man to shield him.
“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.
“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?”
Thomas, who had previously experienced violence, says that the man did not deserve to be attacked.
“Nobody deserves to be hurt, especially not for an idea.”
She has never met the man she protected again, but months later a young man approached her in coffee shop and thanked her. When she asked what he was thanking her for, his reply was simple.
“That was my dad.”
Images of a black teenager leaping into harm’s way to protect an alleged Ku Klux ? member from an angry mob have lost none of their impact 17 years later.
Keshia Thomas spoke with the BBC about the day when 17 KKK members held a rally.
Hundreds of locals had arrived to protest their presence, while police with riot gear and tear gas protected the Klansmen. An 18-year-old Thomas stood with the National Women’s Rights Organizations Coalition protestors behind a purpose-built fence, when someone in the crowd noticed a white man with a Confederate flag T-shirt and an SS tattoo among them.
A woman with a megaphone shouted her accusation, “There’s a Klansman in the crowd.”
As the man tried to get away, Thomas was among the crowd that gave chase.
He started to run when cries of “? the ? ” rang out, but soon fell to the ground. Protestors began to kick and strike the man with placards.
As the blows continued to rain down, a horrified Thomas threw herself on top of the man to shield him.
“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.
“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?”
Thomas, who had previously experienced violence, says that the man did not deserve to be attacked.
“Nobody deserves to be hurt, especially not for an idea.”
She has never met the man she protected again, but months later a young man approached her in coffee shop and thanked her. When she asked what he was thanking her for, his reply was simple.
“That was my dad.”
Could you have done this? 52 votes
Comments
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What an amazing woman.
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couldn't be me, she str-8 coonin^^^^You ready for them flags right?
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? no, ? that cracka, his cracka ? , his cracka offspring, and his flat pancake ? cracka wife
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foh, i wouldve be the first one stompin that mf
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couldn't be me, she str-8 cooninUse her as target practice with white infants and various other filthy, inferior detainees at the culmination of the race war. Her actions were despicable and an abominable disgrace to her Superior race. The crowd should've killed both of them.
#CleanseTheWorld -
bad ? happens to folks who dont mind their business I'm good I'll just keep it pushing and looking from a distance
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she did the right thing...
I dont belee in dat ? tho slime... -
She's a better person than me for sure. Can't call ? tho cause I'm sure she woulda done that for a person of any color.
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INCREDIBLE_DRO wrote: »
Why must you be an idiot?
She had every right to stand back and watch that man get stomped, but she chose to be better than him and his kind and she did it alone..that's amazing.
I wonder what he thinks of that day and if it changed him. -
@sixsicksins do u belee in the teachings of Black Jesus or nah?
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She was way too kind to help out a dope who, if she was on fire, would probably spit on her & go out for barbecue after laughing his porcelain ass off about it.
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couldn't be me, she str-8 cooninYoungGoldie wrote: »foh, i wouldve be the first one stompin that mf
^^^^this^^^^
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I woulda been dropping these instead......
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couldn't be me, she str-8 cooninI wouldnt have participated but I wouldnt condemn anyone who did
this me....
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couldn't be me, she str-8 cooninStopitfive wrote: »@sixsicksins do u belee in the teachings of Black Jesus or nah?
I believe that the Black Creator will smite her and bless us with her death. -
Kanye Kardashian owns this thread? na.
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couldn't be me, she str-8 cooninNah. Id stomp him out. I been in protests where we stomped two dudes to an inch of his life.
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Nah. Id stomp him out. I been in protests where we stomped two dudes to an inch of his life.
So if he had died, you would've risked life in prison for a few minutes of stupidity? -
couldn't be me, she str-8 cooninWhat a dumb ? .
I hope he sues her fat ass for crushing him. -
couldn't be me, she str-8 coonin
In all fairness, it would be suicide by stupidity.
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couldn't be me, she str-8 coonin
@vibe Take a second to think, it aint that simple. We were in ny in front of the UN, had about a 150 kurdish people and we were protesting Turkey. Lil background info, in Turkey the Kurds and Turks have been having an armed conflict for the last 30 years. At the time we were protesting cause Turkey was using chemical weapons.
During the protest, people came from the Turkish consulate to take pictures of us and ? . One of them ended up pushing a 11 year old girl down and kick her then tried to ran, stupidly he ran in the direction of this big ? who body slammed his ass and before he could get up me and like ten other dudes stomped his ? the ? out. He deserved it.
second dude was a similar situation.
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dumb as ? ...
somebody did a back flip in their grave -
couldn't be me, she str-8 coonin
She has never met the man she protected again, but months later a young man approached her in coffee shop and thanked her. When she asked what he was thanking her for, his reply was simple.
“That was my dad.”
She couldnt even get a "Thank You ? " card or nothing! smh