Bree Newsome (1985?- ), an American film-maker and freedom fighter, said on Saturday June 27th 2015:
“This flag comes down today.”
At about 5.30am, with the help of fellow activist James Tyson, she climbed the flagpole in front of the South Carolina state capitol and took down the Confederate battle flag.
She gave as her reason:
“We removed the flag today because we can’t wait any longer. We can’t continue like this another day. It’s time for a new chapter where we are sincere about dismantling white supremacy and building toward true racial justice and equality.”
Newsome is Black, Tyson is White. Both are from Charlotte, North Carolina. Newsome, though, went to high school not far from where the flag flies. As did Dylann Roof.
She and Tyson were arrested for “defacing a monument”.
They each could face a $5,000 fine or three years in prison or both.
They should be national heroes and get some kind of medal from the president.
Michael Moore says he will pay their bail and legal expenses.
At 7.45am the flag was put back up by two state employees (both Black), hours before a pro-flag rally was to take place.
On June 20th, the flag became the centre of national attention when Dylann Roof’s website, The Last Rhodesian, came to light. It had pictures of him holding the Confederate flag – and burning the American flag. Three days before, he had gunned down nine Black people at a Charleston church, saying that Blacks were taking over “our” country.
On June 22nd, the governor called for the flag to come down. To do that she needs two thirds of state lawmakers to vote to overturn the law that put the flag up. Lawmakers have not yet taken up the issue. A vote is unlikely before July 6th.
As a flag under which White Southerners fought a civil war to keep Black slaves, many see it as a symbol of racism or treason. Others say it represents “heritage not hate”. The custom of flying the flag on public property comes not from honouring the Confederate dead, but from opposing civil rights for Blacks in the 1960s. The flag Newsome took down went up in 1962.
Newsome tweeted about the flag a week ago:
“The refusal to firmly acknowledge and condemn the racism only fans the flames further because it makes it seem like the flag is intolerable only because it primarily offends black people (who racists already feel are “taking over the country”).”
This is not Newsome’s first arrest for civil disobedience. On her website, she says she was:
“arrested last year during a sit-in at the North Carolina State Capitol where she spoke out against the state’s recent attack on voting rights.”
She is an organizer for Ignite NC, which has been fighting for voting rights in North Carolina and has taken part in Moral Mondays. She says that as an artist who is truthful she cannot help but be an activist.
– Abagond, 2015.
See also:
- ChangeOfColor.org: Drop charges against Bree Newsome – sign the petition!
- BreeNewsome on the Internet:
- breenewsome.com
- @BreeNewsome
- Tumblr
- YouTube – see a short film by her.
- The Confederate flag
- Dylann Roof
- Moral Mondays
- Know them by their tweets?
- Black Spring
- Marilyn Mosby
549
Uh huh. How convenient. The people in charge knew exactly what they were doing when they sent those two black employees to raise that awful flag once again. They probably threatened them with losing their jobs or something if they didn’t comply.
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I left my comments about Bree Newsome and James Tyson they are heroes. Kudos to the grass roots activist movement The Tribe along with Ignite NC and The Moral Mondays Movement in North Carolina with Rev. William Barber. Respect to all these activist who are about creating change in their communities.
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I loved what i saw on my page on Google + “The only woman on a pole that gets my respect.”
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The pic of Ms. Newsome bringing down the flag will be an iconic image. 🙂
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I am loving James Ian Tyson as an ally. There is something called the “Whiteness Project” He is doing something to help fight white supremacy. Maybe Abagond should do a post on white allies who are fighting next to black people. How many are there i don’t know but their are some white activist that want to help. Remember Viola Liuzzo in the Voting Rights Act and Bloody Sunday. She lost her life.
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My new SHEro! 😀
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I think it’s hypocritical for whites to tell black Americans to forget about their past when they want to hold on to this hateful symbol especially the southerners saying this is their heritage. Well their heritage is what oppressed black people in this country and if they want to keep this trash flying on their personal property that lets us know who our enemies are.
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/me slow claps…. @ : o O ) >
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Since my previous post is in moderation i wanted to state that it is hypocritical that many southern whites maintain that the confederate flag want to tell black Americans to stop bringing up the past when they want to keep this hateful symbol up. Saying that it is their heritage and it’s a symbol of pride. Ok, then that just lets us know who our enemies are.
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As I headed to 2 funerals for the victims here in Charleston on Saturday, my heart was touched by her act of bravery!
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THIS!!!
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1WjnXYGBdo)
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Wow! The images are iconic.
One Black woman silhouetted against the sky removing that flag. For sure, when this is all over, this will become the historic image of the death of the Confederacy in modern times.
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Three years in prison and a $5,000 fine ain’t that some isht for a non- violent crime?
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she is now out of jail and has to go to trial at the end of July.
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I forgot that many great activist standing for change have been arrested Malcom X, MLK and The Black Panthers. So carry on Sister Bree Newsome.
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Wonder Woman does exist and she is Black!
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She means business!
Yet she takes down a symbol of racism, is arrested, and black people are ordered to put it back up. That says a lot about what we’re up against.
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@ sondis:
Thank you for sharing that link! Dr. Watkins is on point. I will never understand the logic of White Southerners to keep the Confederate flag as something that is part of their racist heritage.
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leigh204:
@ : o D ) >
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Bree Newsome and James Tyson are heroes. Period.
As to the symbolism of the Confederate flag, I understand the argument that its relationship to treasonous rebellion and slave ownership has diluted over time and the flag has morphed into a generalized symbol of southern pride. Certainly this sort of metamorphosis occurs over time with other symbols. Heck, even words change their meaning over time. Right now, for example, we are living through an era in which “fortuitous” is taking on the meaning that used to be ascribed to “serendipitous”.
Though I understand that argument relative to the Confederate flag, ultimately I don’t buy it. Dylan Roof is a testament to the reality of the south — that the entire region is infused with a pervasive underlying racism toward black people. This is so much a part of the warp and woof of southern social fabric that black and white people alike have come to accept it as just a normal state of affairs. I’m staggered by statements of black childhood friends of Roof, that he cracked racist jokes and such, but only the normal kind that one hears all the time. This kind of social virus is kept alive in part by touchstones like the Confederate flag flying before or atop various Capitols. Thus preserved, it promises numerous individuals like Roof, or Deryl Dedmon, roaming about, just baby steps from racist violence.
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This brings a smile to my face,I’m glad she tried. I’m not blaming the black employees that put it back up, this is what will happen when they write the checks. Feed ur family or fight are the options they have to choose. Sending two black employees to put it back up is symbolic of have one black person fight against white supremacy and they will have two more to undo it. Or to show that the black folk are under their control, we will send two black folks to put our flag back up, can’t send a white person or that would be racist. Send black folk to put back up white supremacist symbol to show how much nothing has changed, still havin black folks doing the dirty work while u sit back.
@ mary
yep they want to celebrate their history but we can’t? They can claim it is a symbol of pride all they want, but pride in what? they lost the war so it can’t be that. Maybe it is the pride of overt white supremacy and the history of being able to do whatever to black folks that didn’t know their place especially after no longer being on the plantation. The pride of being able to strike fear into a “free” person and remind them of how free they really are. Or the pride in denying people rights, or is it the pride of knowing the kkk and other white supremacist groups fly it and it is ur way of showing support without being directly tied to them.
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I just had a thought since racist whites created the problem of racism why didn’t the white guy Tyson climb up and get the flag?
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Lots of folks especially black ones are having an issue with James Tyson since all he did was stand at the bottom and collect the flag. Lot of folks are not buying the ally narrative
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When I first saw this I thought good on her.
But then I looked into it and found that it was white people who set it up.
She has a white boyfriend (That’s fair enough) it was also white people who were around her at the time that makes sense because how could a black person climb up a pole to take down the flag and not get shot ?
She got arrested.
And she had all this mountain climbing gear, then i knew it must have been white folks because black people don’t do all that mountain climbing stuff. They probably called in ahead of time to warn them
But excuse my cynicism because if she did climb the pole and take down the flag on her own merit, then fair play.
But when she got arrested and STRAIGHT AWAY there was an indigo page for her,
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/bail-for-bree-newsome#/story
They’ve raised over a 100 grand by now. That indigogo page is run by a white organisation called CREDO Action
http://credoaction.com/
Which is also funded by a white man called George Soros who put his money behind #blacklivesmatter
http://politicaloutcast.com/2015/01/soros-funding-ferguson-black-lives-matter-protests/
So now you have a bunch of non-black people (Mainly white people) orchestrating this whole thing and profiting of it ?
That’s the issue I have.
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Unfortunately there was a meme on social media that was created by a Black male that compared Bree Newsome to a stripper. This meme put aside the picture of Bree Newsome on the flagpole, bringing down the Confederate flag besides a picture of a provocatively dressed stripper and it said on the meme, Black women, which one are you? I was truly disguised by it because I hate sexism and misogynoir.
And honestly, I don’t see Bree Newsome bringing down the Confederate flag a victory or even something to even get excited about. I know that the Confederate flag stands for racism and how the South fought to hold back those of African descent during and after slavery but the American flag also stands for the same thing as well. This country was founded on racism and violence yet I have never seen anyone try to take down the American flag. Thus to me, they mean the same thing.
Besides what will bringing down a flag do? It wouldn’t change the housing discrimination, discrimination in hiring and in the workplace, education inequalities, lower wages, less access to healthcare and anything that Black men and women and others who aren’t White, male, heterosexual and upper to middle class experience in society.
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@angelaroselle
The Civil War was never about freeing slaves, it was more about since you don’t cut me on the Cotton Profits and everything else slaves were used to harvest, I won’t let you own the economy between North and South. Go back and watch movies like ‘Glory’ or do a bit a reading. I’m sure you might already be aware of these facts and somehow popular history/thinking has suppressed your actual memory because you do seem like a well ‘learned’ person. I apologize in advance.
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But why should a White guy own the moment? He did the right thing—assist, without taking over the movement. As for whether or not he is a real ally, that’s easy: Ask Bree. If she says he is, then that’s good enough for me.
Yes, but that criticism is coming from people who were standing at the flag pole at all… so…
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Signing the petition is strictly an American concern, right? It doesn’t matter if people outside the U.S. sign it.
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King said: Wow! The images are iconic.
One Black woman silhouetted against the sky removing that flag. For sure, when this is all over, this will become the historic image of the death of the Confederacy in modern times.
Heroes and Romance, powerful and enduring stuff.
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I worry that the flag is becoming a kind of scapegoat. Yes, it is a symbol of white racism but that’s all it is, a symbol. Take it away from public view and the racism still remains.
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Ms newsome did not learn to climb like that over a weekend. She is wearing a belt that a tree ‘surgeon’ or verizon (eg) tech would wear when a ladder just wont do. The telephone/powerline tech would also typically wear ‘gaffs’ which are about 1/2″ long spikes to maintain and switch position on the pole. She had sneakers on. Not too mention maybe 50′ up? Kudos! Besides the flag and all, that took guts
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On what looks like a slippery painted metal pole?
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There’s not enough money in the goddamned mint to have made me raise that flag. The house negroes who put it back up should be ashamed. Some things are not worth it.l
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@Teddy whatever your name is
I never said the Civil War was about freeing the slaves. I said that the Confederate flag symbolizes how Southerners wanted to keep their African slaves and practice slavery. Southern economy relied on slave labor as well as farming and more agricultural means of living. The North was more industrialized and had more technological advances than the South at the time. The war started because the Union was falling apart due to the South wanting to preserve their ”way of life” and many Northerners were against slavery. The main reason for the war was because rest of the country and Lincoln wanted to preserve the Union. In fact, Lincoln said this:
“If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.”
http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/american_studies/abraham_lincolns_letter_t.php
In fact, the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 didn’t free the slaves. Lincoln did not actively make sure that slaves were freed from their slaves after that he made that speech. Lincoln was against slavery however ending slavery wasn’t his main priority at all but preserving the Union was. It wasn’t until the Thirteenth Amendment that was ratified into our Constitution in 1865 that made slavery illegal on American soil.
As a Black woman, the Confederate flag symbolizes racism and subjugation of those of African descent but so does the American flag. America was founded on the enslavement of African slaves, genocide against Native American, war moning, gun violence etc. Yet I don’t see anyone trying to bring down the American flag off of a flagpole. Call me unpatriotic if you want but to me, both American and Confederate flags mean the same thing to me. The only difference is that the United States of America is still a nation and is still standing and the Confederacy is no more.
That is my point in a nutshell. No twisting around my words to your own advantage. Have a good day.
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anecdotally it’s difficult to rip that image as a file? from wordpress. 30′. no gaffs, interestingly enough ‘bree newsome gaffs’ comes up real high ie this thread, not ‘bree newsome’ so much tho that may be weighted by cache/search history off google, i assure you i did not search for that term before now
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strike that reverse it i’m pretty sure i googled bree newsome gaffs before i responded to the ‘mountain climbing equipment’ comment
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[…] Bree Newsome takes down the Confederate flag on June 27. Read full story here. […]
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When the South Carolina Secessionist Party first heard Bree Newsome was invited to speak at the College of Charleston during Black History Month, they planned to protest by blanketing the city with Confederate flags (on vehicles, homes and streets if they could get away with it). She came yesterday and they went through with it {SMDH} :
http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/TheBattery/archives/2017/02/23/protesters-clash-outside-of-bree-newsome-lecture?utm_source=Master+Newsletter+List&utm_campaign=884ac3a087-DAILY_NEWSLETTER&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d4e2097b95-884ac3a087-117386649
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Oops! Here’s the link for the initial “Grand Flagging” plan — http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/TheBattery/archives/2017/02/20/secessionist-partys-grand-flagging-draws-response-from-charleston-officials-activists
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