gotsnowgotslush
skates like Eck
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2007
- Posts
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A story, worth passing along-
June 22, 1996
On that day outside of the city hall in Ann Arbor, Michigan was a KKK rally. And a counter rally.
Keshia Thomas was then an 18 year old high school senior, there to join the counter-protesters, outnumbering the klan members thirty to one.
A woman with a megaphone pointed to a man, Albert McKeel Jr., with swastika tattoos on his arms and wearing confederate regalia. She yelled out,"There's a Klansman in the crowd! A Nazi!”
Before the man could get away, the crowd had him on the ground and began to kick and beat him.
That’s when Keshia Thomas showed us the way.
gsgs comment-
(Collection of pictures, taken at the rally, and confrontation)
Keshia protected the injured man on the ground with her own body. She put a halt to the beating. She protested and pleaded for the violence to stop. She led him away to safety.
/end gsgs comment
Five months after the incident, a young man walked up to her whilst she was in a coffee shop. He stopped in front of her and stared at her intently. Then, his face softened.
“I want to thank you for saving that man.”
“He was my dad.”
“You changed my life.”
“And his.”
“He left the klan.”
https://www.dailykos.com/blog/recommended
This Woman Of Color Saving A Klan Member Shows Who And What We Are. And Shows All Of Us The Way Home
article written by Tevye
2017/09/22
http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2016/06/saving_man_from_beating_at_kkk.html
"We all have a conscience and it was my responsibility to do what I felt was right," Thomas said in a phone interview on June 23, the day after the 20-year anniversary of the incident.
"The incident wasn't about me," she added. "I just happened to be a vessel that carried this message. This story is about humanity."
Protecting the man, Albert McKeel Jr., set into motion a relationship with his son, who later thanked Thomas for her bravery after encountering her in a coffee shop.
Thomas, who now resides in Houston, learned McKeel Jr. died a couple of months ago when McKeel's son called to inform her, putting his 12-year-old sister on the line to tell her she might not be alive if it hadn't been for Thomas' actions that day.
Former Ann Arbor resident reflects on saving man from beating at KKK
June 24, 2016
-article written by Martin Slagter
A link in a horrible chain was broken. The daughter and son were free of a terrible influence. A change was made.
June 22, 1996
On that day outside of the city hall in Ann Arbor, Michigan was a KKK rally. And a counter rally.
Keshia Thomas was then an 18 year old high school senior, there to join the counter-protesters, outnumbering the klan members thirty to one.
A woman with a megaphone pointed to a man, Albert McKeel Jr., with swastika tattoos on his arms and wearing confederate regalia. She yelled out,"There's a Klansman in the crowd! A Nazi!”
Before the man could get away, the crowd had him on the ground and began to kick and beat him.
That’s when Keshia Thomas showed us the way.
gsgs comment-
(Collection of pictures, taken at the rally, and confrontation)
Keshia protected the injured man on the ground with her own body. She put a halt to the beating. She protested and pleaded for the violence to stop. She led him away to safety.
/end gsgs comment
Five months after the incident, a young man walked up to her whilst she was in a coffee shop. He stopped in front of her and stared at her intently. Then, his face softened.
“I want to thank you for saving that man.”
“He was my dad.”
“You changed my life.”
“And his.”
“He left the klan.”
https://www.dailykos.com/blog/recommended
This Woman Of Color Saving A Klan Member Shows Who And What We Are. And Shows All Of Us The Way Home
article written by Tevye
2017/09/22
http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2016/06/saving_man_from_beating_at_kkk.html
"We all have a conscience and it was my responsibility to do what I felt was right," Thomas said in a phone interview on June 23, the day after the 20-year anniversary of the incident.
"The incident wasn't about me," she added. "I just happened to be a vessel that carried this message. This story is about humanity."
Protecting the man, Albert McKeel Jr., set into motion a relationship with his son, who later thanked Thomas for her bravery after encountering her in a coffee shop.
Thomas, who now resides in Houston, learned McKeel Jr. died a couple of months ago when McKeel's son called to inform her, putting his 12-year-old sister on the line to tell her she might not be alive if it hadn't been for Thomas' actions that day.
Former Ann Arbor resident reflects on saving man from beating at KKK
June 24, 2016
-article written by Martin Slagter
A link in a horrible chain was broken. The daughter and son were free of a terrible influence. A change was made.
