Ever since the violent clash in Charlottesville. Virginia, between white nationalists and so-called “antifa” thugs that left one person dead, the media has been openly wondering whether violence is an appropriate response to hate.
You would think, at this point in American history, there wouldn’t be any question that using violence against those peaceably expressing their opinion is wrong — no matter how odious that opinion may be. However, that hasn’t been the trend in the reporting for the past week and a half, with many outlets lionizing or running apologetics for the antifa brigade.
It wasn’t always like this — and one photograph from June of 1996 showed just how far we’ve fallen in just two decades.
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The photo is of an African-American woman named Keshia Thomas, then 18, who had come out to protest a KKK rally in Ann Arbor, Michigan. During the rally, a man wearing a Confederate flag jacket and sporting a Nazi SS tattoo was singled out by the crowd, which gathered around him and began to beat him.
This is what Keshia Thomas did:
As the crowd seized upon the man, yelling “Kill the Nazi” and descended upon him, the high-schooler decided to shield him from harm. An Ann Arbor News photographer got a picture of the incident, and the rest was history.
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“It became barbaric,” Thomas said, according to the BBC.
“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.'”
As the saying goes, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” That’s an American value that, at least back in 1996, Thomas was lionized for having upheld.
Thomas was even lauded on the Senate floor by Democrat Ernest “Fritz” Hollings of South Carolina.
“Keshia Thomas didn’t act with the intention of being lauded by the press or given awards, and that is what makes her actions truly heroic,” Hollings said. “I would like to take this opportunity to thank her for giving the country a stunning example of compassion and a valuable lesson. Her philosophy of nonviolence echoes that of history’s most influential activists … After the incident was over, one of the first things that made Keshia Thomas feel like a hero was her 11-year-old brother telling her he was proud of her. Mr. President, I think we all are.”
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It wasn’t all plaudits, though. Even in 1996, long before the advent of social media, Thomas was the target of hate mail for her action, she told Oprah Winfrey in a 2016 interview. Think how much worse it would be in the current environment, where the left has no constraints about using social media to punish those who stray from the orthodox line.
Thomas would likely be viewed as a hate-group sympathizer by antifa and her motives questioned by mainstream media. Not only did she show how a real American handles hate speech, but she also showed how much our country has changed — and not for the better.
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