Black woman recalls day she protected alleged Ku Klux Klan member from angry mob

[jakeXT]

Images of a black teenager leaping into harm’s way to protect an alleged Ku Klux Klan 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 in mostly liberal Ann Arbor, Mich., in June 1996.

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.”

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/black-woman-recalls-day-saved-alleged-kkk-member-mob-article-1.1501050

[Number23]

1. Lord, have mercy

That woman's courage and humanity knows no bounds.

[treestar]

2. The son at least thanked her

I was wondering if her actions had some effect on the racist himself.

"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.”

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/black-woman-recalls-day-saved-alleged-kkk-member-mob-article-1.1501050#ixzz2jyXikiIF

An exceptional young woman.