August 14, 2017

"18-year-old Keshia Thomas protects a fallen man, believed to be associated with the Ku Klux Klan from an angry mob of anti-clan protestors."

"Ann Arbor, Michigan USA. 1996 By Mark Brunner."

A popular new post — with an old photo — at Reddit.

Top-rated comment:
Something like that happened to John McCain when he was captured. The lynch mob was held back only by a North Vietnamese nurse who protected him.
And here's a link to a 2016 article following up on Keshia Thomas:
"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....

Thomas remembers appearing in opposition to the KKK group in an effort organized by the National Women's Rights Organizing Coalition outside Ann Arbor's city hall on June 22, 1996. At one point, a woman with a megaphone shouted, "There's a Klansman in the crowd!"

Thomas, who was still in high school, turned and saw McKeel Jr., taking off away from the crowd. It wasn't long before mob mentality took over and the crowd had McKeel on the ground.

Thomas, horrified to see the man being kicked and beaten, threw herself on top of McKeel to shield him from the blows.

64 comments:

mccullough said...

A sane, courageous person among the riff raff in a college town. We need thousands of people like her at these events.

David said...

Bless her.



Big Mike said...

"We all have a conscience and it was my responsibility to do what I felt was right."

Not on the left. Not anymore. Just read the comments of ARM and sunsong.

sunsong said...

What she did is wonderful! What the right winger did was kill and injure..

So now the right has killed a Bernie supporter and you all appear to be either celebrating it or rationalizing it. You are revealing who you are with this event...

Ralph L said...

From the comments:
I think the fact that she was thanked by his children speaks far more. That generation did not learn his hate.
Someone's got his brain on.

Believed to be associated: could be, he's got a confed flag and an SS tattoo.

Matt Sablan said...

The "right" has not done anything, unless you're willing to accept that the "left" opened fire on a baseball field, dragged man out of a car in Chicago to beat him for "voting Trump," etc., etc.

Laslo Spatula said...

1996 was a long time ago.

Like World War Two from the Vietnam era.

Different world.

In 1996 Dre and Tupac rapping "California Love" was blowing up the speakers.

The East Side / West Side Rap war was the Big Battle going down.

From Wiki:

"Focal points of the feud were West Coast-based rapper Tupac Shakur (and his Los Angeles-based label, Death Row Records), and East Coast-based rapper The Notorious B.I.G. (and his New York-based label, Bad Boy Records), who were both fatally shot following drive-by shootings by unknown assailants in 1996 and 1997, respectively."

Now we are Here.

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

I remember reading Althouse's blog in 1996.

I am Laslo.

Wince said...

If you notice in all the photos, the man McKeel never drops his bottle of BRISK ice tea throughout the melee and after.

In some photos it looks like the mob is chasing him for his BRISK.

Thomas and McKeel should do a BRISK ad together.

It'd be better than that Pepsi ad.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Big Mike said...
Not on the left. Not anymore.


From an apologist for a fascist murderer. Sad!

Anonymous said...

"So now the right has killed a Bernie supporter..."

Indulging in the same group hate the KKK guy was guilty of, aren't you?

Clayton Hennesey said...

Does anyone remember when the ACLU sued to let the KKK march in Skokie, IL?

These days, hate speech is apparently no longer included in free speech, and this week GoDaddy finds a market opportunity in booting Stormfront they failed to recognize a week ago. To be fair to GoDaddy, they can often be found in the margins of Web site speed testing sites, commiserating that one's millisecond-loading site seems slow, offering their services as a remedy.

So another upvote for Althouse championing more and freer speech.

rehajm said...

The "right" has not done anything, unless you're willing to accept that the "left" opened fire on a baseball field, dragged man out of a car in Chicago to beat him for "voting Trump," etc., etc.

Since it's trendy right now to make demands of political opponents: I demand the left renounce categorizing individual behavior as behavior of a group!

(Also trendy: irony in such demands.)

wendybar said...

Matthew Sablan said...
The "right" has not done anything, unless you're willing to accept that the "left" opened fire on a baseball field, dragged man out of a car in Chicago to beat him for "voting Trump," etc., etc.


Hear Hear!!!

Tommy Duncan said...

sunsong said:

"So now the right has killed a Bernie supporter and you all appear to be either celebrating it or rationalizing it. You are revealing who you are with this event..."

Your comment is revealing as well. Who here is celebrating? Names please.

One persons "rationalizing" is another person's search for truth, facts and motives. This one of the saner blogs where many posters are intelligent, truthful and sincere. Comments like yours above are intentionally inflammatory and decisive.

holdfast said...

The Left thinks that Trump his Hitler.

To me, he's looking more like the ineffectual Paul von Hindenburg. You know, the guy who preceded Hitler.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Tommy Duncan said...
One persons "rationalizing" is another person's search for truth, facts and motives


Oh bullshit. Althouse was in full-blown rationalization mode this weekend. It was a genuine new low in hypocrisy after all the fuss she made over the peaceful demonstrators in Madison, none of whom murdered a local citizen.

LilyBart said...

Some people manage to maintain their humanity even when everyone else around them has descended into something dark. May we all aspire to be those people.

clint said...

Hero.

I do wish we'd spend more time looking at people like Keshia Thomas and less time looking at people like Hodgkinson.

Big Mike said...

I see sunsong, roesch, and ARM are ready to lead a lynch mob down to Charlottesville to deal with Mr Fields. 'Cause they don't need no effing judges and effing juries and effing fact-finding. Reasonable doubt doesn't apply. He's e-e-e-e-vil; he deserves to hang!

That about summarizes ARM's posts and sunsong and roesch's comment on the other thread.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Big Mike said...
are ready to lead a lynch mob down to Charlottesville to deal with Mr Fields


Fields does not come from Charlottesville, he was a rent-a-thug from out of town.

rhhardin said...

Althouse was in full-blown rationalization mode this weekend. It was a genuine new low in hypocrisy after all the fuss she made over the peaceful demonstrators in Madison,

Another new low! The previous new low was less than 24 hours ago.

On the bright side, each post is apparently better than the next.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

ARM doesn't think free speech or due process are rational.

Big Mike said...

@ARM, Fields is being held in Charlottesville.

Gawd! You are so stupid you can't even lead a lynch mob in the right direction.

Anonymous said...

So now the right has killed a Bernie supporter and you all appear to be either celebrating it or rationalizing it. You are revealing who you are with this event...

Oh, c'mon sunsong, you're better than this.

Drago said...

When are the lefties going to apologize for killing police officers?

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Big Mike said...
Fields is being held in Charlottesville.


Fields is being held in the Albermarle-Charlottesville County Regional Jail, which is not in Charlottesville but in Albermarle county.

Big Mike said...

Any reasonable person would regard Avon Street, just south of I-64, as being in Charlottesville.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

A pastor friend of mine has a photo up on her Facebook of a bunch of faith leaders linking arms and marching down an empty street in Charlottesville. I wish I had the nerve to call that out as the pointless, pompous, photo-op virtue signaling that it is and offer this action as an actual example of the love-your-enemy, love-drives-out-hate, recognition of common humanity that Jesus ACTUALLY requires of us.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Big Mike said...
Any reasonable person would regard Avon Street, just south of I-64, as being in Charlottesville.


Any reasonable person would know how to read a map and understand where city borders lie.

Richard said...

Finally, the Left has gotten their martyr.

Big Mike said...

If they were reasonable.

Big Mike said...

Now you're just trying to be anal retentive.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Big Mike said...
anal retentive


Aren't you an engineer? That is high praise indeed from an engineer.

Ralph L said...

That high school girl had balls.
And more.

Freeman Hunt said...

Twenty years ago we had a brave protester who cared about things beyond ideology. Neat!

Anonymous said...

Keshia Thomas, American.

JPS said...

Wow. I did not know about this story and I am choked up. What a brave lady.

I read one of the follow-up articles linked in the comments. It seems he never thanked her. But his kids did.

"The real accomplishment of all this to me is to know that his son and daughter don't share the same views. History didn't repeat itself. That's what gives me hope that the world can get better from generation to generation."

mockturtle said...

I hope his heart was changed by this act of kind concern. I knew a young Mennonite Christian woman who had been a Skinhead/Neo-Nazi in San Francisco in the 1980's. People can change--especially with God's intervention.

Snark said...

Great story I hadn't encountered previously. Thank you.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Something like that happened to John McCain when he was captured. The lynch mob was held back only by a North Vietnamese nurse who protected him.


Thanks for nothing, bitch.

Snark said...

"Oh bullshit. Althouse was in full-blown rationalization mode this weekend."

I do have to agree with this. Sometimes everything feels alien here. This weekend was one of those times.

TML said...

why is it "clan" on second reference?

Unknown said...

And watch, it won't take long for someone here to demonize her for being a Black Lives Matter protestor, or a Antifa, or for even just being a "leftist". Where is Achilles to call her a Stalinist?

Unknown said...

"We all have a conscience and it was my responsibility to do what I felt was right."

"Not on the left. Not anymore. Just read the comments of ARM and sunsong."

So what the hell do you think this woman was doing laying on top of this Nazi?

Unknown said...

"So now the right has killed a Bernie supporter and you all appear to be either celebrating it or rationalizing it. You are revealing who you are with this event..."

Yes, I've been reading it all damn weekend. Shameful.

Unknown said...

"Your comment is revealing as well. Who here is celebrating? Names please."

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?postID=2492034265777474177&blogID=6329595&isPopup=false&page=2

Blogger Char Char Binks said...
"Even if Machiavelli rose from the grave and wrote the decree himself, it is still the right of the burghers of Charlottesville to decide what fucking statues they put up in their own fucking park."

True, and if that is the will of the people of Charlotte, by popular vote or by act of the burghers, the statue should be removed, but it's still the right of the people to protest that decision, and to try to influence the government to change it. The alt-right were exercising their 1A rights to peaceably assemble and speak. The Anti-First-Amendment Blackshirts were there not to demonstrate for the statue's removal (they already won that fight) but, by criminal acts of intimidation, force, and violence, to deny the people the right to protest. They were there for the feeling of moral superiority in their virtue signaling and for the more visceral thrill of street fighting. I'm glad at least one of them was killed.

8/13/17, 11:05 PM

bagoh20 said...

Is anyone willing to list ALL the recent political violence since Trump was elected and identify which side was the perpetrator? If you do you will need to leave this one out, unless you include the NAZIs with the side who favors government control, shutting down unapproved speech, confiscating guns, wiping out religion, and identifying everyone on racial and ethnic lines.

Let me predict that it won't be a lefty here doing that or in the media. The left media who love lists, won't do either.

bleh said...

"... anti-clan protesters"

I have never seen that spelling before. That woman was definitely a hero, but I condemn the violent mob that chased the man down and beat him because they disagreed with his vile beliefs. In fact, you can only think of her as a hero if you also condemn the mob's actions.

bagoh20 said...

This should remembered as the week that virtue signaling became the only permissible speech.

Does anyone even remember the name of the guy who just a few weeks ago attempted to kill 1/10 of the entire Republican congress during a charity ball game designed to promote bipartisanship? It's like it never happened.

mockturtle said...

Sometimes everything feels alien here.

As well it should, Snark.

bleh said...

Anyway, consider where things are headed. Much of the Left has been rationalizing and defending acts of violence against Nazis, even peaceful Nazis. It's OK to punch a Nazi. Of course, the definition of "Nazi" is surprisingly broad these days. Even anti-Trump conservatives aren't safe. If you are to the right of the Democrats, you may be a Nazi in the eyes of some and therefore deserving of a punch or worse.

Isn't it better to disavow all violence except in defense of self or others from imminent physical harm?

SweatBee said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
n.n said...

Principles before principals.

Jael (Gone Windwalking) said...

~
David said... bless her. Two are in agreement. Charles Peirce imperfectly wrote a critique of Darwin, “Evolutionary Love,” and it’s not bad, just replaced now with fancier metrics still incapable of perfectly predicting in advance that act of 18-year-old Keshia Thomas. Thanks owe.

Bill said...

There were several such cases of heroism by blacks during the Rodney King riots - especially at the epicenter at Florence and Normandie.

Bill said...

We all have a conscience and it was my responsibility to do what I felt was right

I love what she did, but I love what she said, too. Not a buzzword or cut-and-paste slogan in sight.

Unknown said...

Fox News reporting it also. What a good NaziBoy.

"James Alex Fields was allegedly so threatening and violent his own mother repeatedly called 911 on him.
TMZ has obtained 911 records from a police agency in Kentucky from 2010 and 2011, when Fields was 13 and 14 years old.
In one incident, a friend of Fields' wheelchair-bound mom called 911, saying the boy was threatening his mother, spit in her face and stood behind her with a 12-inch knife. The mother wanted her son taken away and he was arrested and then detained as a juvenile.
In another incident the mother called 911, saying she told her son to stop playing video games and he exploded in anger, smacking her in the head and putting his hand over her mouth. She locked herself in the bathroom and called 911, telling the dispatcher he was on meds to control his anger.

In yet another incident, the mom called 911, saying Fields was being threatening toward her and she was scared."

Lydia said...

This should remembered as the week that virtue signaling became the only permissible speech.

Seems to me that any sentient person who has even an inkling of what the Nazis did should find that marching through the streets at night with lit torches and chants of blood and soil obscene and should be moved to revulsion. Does that qualify as virtue signaling in your book?

Bad Lieutenant said...

AReasonableMan said...
Big Mike said...
are ready to lead a lynch mob down to Charlottesville to deal with Mr Fields

Fields does not come from Charlottesville, he was a rent-a-thug from out of town.
8/14/17, 9:09 AM


so...you're read to lead the mob over to the Albermarle-Charlottesville County Regional Jail, which is not in Charlottesville but in Albermarle county.


Hmmm...do you take your practice from the case of the Scottsboro Boys, of Emmett Till, or as the defendant is white, of Leo Frank?

I'm so old I remember when lynch mobs were declasse.

Ralph L said...

Unknown at 2:28, that explains why the Army let him go. Bet he tortured some animals, too. Nature or nurture?

Big Mike said...

@Bad LT, the jail is just outside city limits, but a good outfielder could throw a baseball from in front of the jail and have it land inside the city proper. The jail is in one of the four zip codes that cover the city. ARM was just splitting hairs.

Big Mike said...

@Lydia, yours is one of the comments I read, and weep at. That the neo-Nazis move you to revulsion, so WHAT? In this country people have a First Amendment right "peaceably to assemble" and our laws protect them every bit as much as they protect people we all agree with. The test is not whether Lydia agrees with their philosophy, or Big Mike agrees with their philosophy or ARM agrees with their philosophy, it's whether our laws protect them. And Saturday, they didn't.

If you don't want to live in a country where the Constitution applies equally to all of us, and where laws protect hateful citizens as well as the virtuous, may I suggest Canada?

Bad Lieutenant said...

He's probably one of those "but the New York Giants/Jets should be the New JERSEY Giants/Jets" types. Or an opportunist. Anyway, wherever he wants to lead the lynch mob, I hope they're waiting with artillery.

I don't think they would stop this madness even if they realized they were going to lose.