Black officer helps white supremacist suffering from heat exhaustion, photo goes viral

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Rob Godfrey tweeted out an image of a black police officer helping a white supremacist who was suffering from heat exhaustion during a Ku Klux Klan rally.

And then America (well some of America) collectively went “Awwwww…”

Godfrey, who serves as South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s deputy chief of staff,  posted the image to Twitter with the caption:

not an uncommon example of humanity in SC: Leroy Smith helps white supremacist to shelter & water as heat bears down.

Leroy Smith, the Director of South Carolina’s Department of Public Safety, can be seen in the image holding the arm of an unidentified protester wearing a National Socialist movement T-shirt with a swastika on it.

The protester had come for a KKK rally on Saturday, protesting against the recent removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina statehouse. During the event, the temperatures reached the high 90s.

The Confederate flag was removed following the racially-motivated attack on a Charleston church that left nine African-Americans dead. The shooter, Dylann Roof, had admitted that he wanted to start a race war with his violent attack, and the images of Roof alongside the Confederate flag quickly sparked a nationwide conversation on the place of such a symbol in this country’s history.

Godfrey’s photo led to thousands of retweets and other social media posts. And then we’re reminded that there was KKK rally in 2015.

End scene.