Charlotte activist explains why she removed Confederate flag at SC State House
Charlotte activist Bree Newsome said she removed a Confederate battle flag from a Columbia flagpole Saturday “in defiance of those who enslaved my ancestors” and over “oppression that continues against black people globally.”
Newsome, 30, and another Charlotte activist, James Ian Tyson, also 30, were arrested by the S.C. Bureau of Protective Services at about 6:15 a.m. Saturday, after Newsome climbed the pole to remove the flag. Tyson stood at the base of the pole.
They were charged with defacing state property, a misdemeanor that carries penalties of up to three years in prison or a fine of up to $5,000 or both. Both were released on $3,000 bond, with a trial date set for July 27.
State employees quickly returned the flag to its post, but images of Newsome removing the flag quickly spread nationwide.
In a statement, Newsome said the deaths of nine people in a shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston on June 17 “shook me to the core of my being. I couldn’t sleep. I sat awake in the dead of night. All the ghosts of the past seemed to be rising.”
She said she gathered with a small group of concerned residents, “both black and white who represented various walks of life, spiritual beliefs, gender identities and sexual orientations.”
The group decided to remove the flag immediately, Newsome said, “both as an act of civil disobedience and as a demonstration of the power people have when we work together.”
The group, she said, decided that a black woman should remove the flag and that a white man should be the one to help her over the fence “as a sign that our alliance transcended both racial and gender divides.”
“We made this decision because for us, this is not simply about a flag, but rather it is about abolishing the spirit of hatred and oppression in all its forms,” Newsome said.
To those who might label her an outside agitator, she said, “I say to you that humanitarianism has no borders. ... My prayers are with the poor, the afflicted and the oppressed everywhere in the world, as Christ instructs.
“If this act of disobedience can also serve as a symbol to other peoples’ struggles against oppression or as a symbol of victory over fear and hate, then I know all the more that I did the right thing,” Newsome said.
This story was originally published June 30, 2015 at 5:48 PM with the headline "Charlotte activist explains why she removed Confederate flag at SC State House."