Now this is what you call courage.
On May 1, an Afro-Swedish woman was not going to stand by idly while neo-Nazis walked the streets of Sweden. Standing only 5’3″, Maria Tess Asplund confronted 300 uniform neo-Nazis, all off impulse: “I don’t even think I thought about it really, I just jumped out.”
While standing there she thought to herself: “Oh sh*t, maybe I shouldn’t have done that, I want peace and quiet.”
Talking to The Local, Tess described that courageous moment that has now gone viral:
“I just thought: you shouldn’t be here. Then one of them stared at me and I stared back. He didn’t say anything and neither did I. Then the police came fairly quickly and took me away.”
Tess, a known anti-racism activist, traveled to the town of Borlänge, coincidentally confronting the very march she traveled to protest. The neo-Nazis, called the Nordic Resistance Movement, with many members convicted for violent crimes, are known for targeting anti-racists.
Photo credit: David Lagerlöf