SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Courthouse News Service reports
A woman climbed a flagpole and cut down the Confederate flag in front of the South Carolina statehouse Saturday before promptly being arrested and seeing the banner raised again less than an hour later.
Bree Newsome, dressed in climbing gear, spoke respectfully with police gathered at the base of the flag pole as she continued to move ever closer to the flag. A video of her climb captures Newsome, a resident of Raleigh, North Carolina, talking to police from about two-thirds the way up the 30-foot pole, evidently acknowledging her imminent arrest.
"I know sir. I'm prepared", she says.
"Ma'am, come down off the pole", the officers yell as passing motorists honked their horns at the scene.
"You cannot get to me with hatred and oppression and violence", Newsome shouted as she cut the flag down. "In the name of God, this flag comes down today."
The New York Daily News identifies the woman as Brittany Ann Byuarium (Bree) Newsome of Charlotte, NC and continues
[...] When she reached the bottom, State Police took the flag out of her hands and arrested her. Another North Carolina activist, James Tyson, climbed over the four-foot wrought-iron fence and held the pole to make sure Newsome didn't fall, Lewis said. He was arrested alongside Newsome as a group of onlookers cheered off camera. The 30-year-olds were charged with defacing a monument on state Capitol grounds, a misdemeanor that can bring up to three years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
A judge ordered $3,000 bond for each of them and said they were free to travel to other states.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2015, @04:29AM
The confederate flag was not flown between the civil war, and the beginning of civil rights legislation / decisions. Flying the confederate flag really began with the decision in Brown vs. Board of Education, and the subsequent attempts to integrate schools as a symbol of the opposition to recognizing black people as full human beings.
It is a symbol of racism that the white southern racists, and the the white northern racists rally around. It really has no other symbolism in its modern usage. And, it was virtually non-existent prior to the civil rights era of the mid twentieth century, so whatever pre-civil rights era historical symbolism it had was not powerful enough for any of these state capitols to bother flying the flag.
So, yes. Taking down a symbol of racism flying on an official government building is championing the fight against racism (and all that entails-- including horrific state sponsored violence).
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2015, @05:31AM
You're right on the broad strokes but missed the date in this specific case.
Brown v Board was decided in 1954.
1953 - 1961 (Republican) Eisenhower was in the White House.
He did as little as possible on the Civil Rights front and only acted -after- there was violence.
Such events [wordpress.com] were depicted brilliantly [wordpress.com] by Norman Rockwell. [scottmcd.net]
The South Carolina legislature resolved to start flying the Southern Cross in 1961 when (Liberal Democrat) John F. Kennedy was elected President and his administration showed support for Civil Rights.
The period you reference was the beginning of the migration of Southern politicians to the Republican Party and actually began in earnest in 1948 (See also: Dixiecrats).
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2015, @07:44PM
1953 - 1961 (Republican) Eisenhower was in the White House.
Yes Eisenhower was BEFORE the "White Democratic Party" became just the Democratic Party, and all the southern racist white Democrats (also called Dixicrats) moved over to the Republican Party.
Republicans used to be the less racist party, then the Dems and Repubs swapped.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by GungnirSniper on Monday June 29 2015, @05:49AM
What better flag to fly in the face of disputed federal intervention than the one of ultimate defiance? The defining battle of American politics is what jurisdictional areas belong to which layer of government. Do we accept complete and limitless power held in the hands of the feds? Or do we use the Tenth Amendment to let states decide what is not expressly reserved by the feds? Take a look at cannabis and hemp politics and you'll see the same discussion - the federal government has no right to limit intrastate trade.
The Southern flag has been losing its racist meaning for some time now, becoming effectively a regional pride flag. It has been worn by black rappers like Ludacris. Was Lynyrd Skynyrd's prominent use of the flag racist while they were playing music that was strongly influenced by black artists? Maybe to people in other parts of the country who only see the flag on television view it as solely racist, just as people who only see black people on television news have warped views of black people being only criminals.
For a not insignificant portion of white (and some black) Southerners, the Confederate Battle Flag stands for the valor and sacrifice of their ancestors. To coastal urbanites, this sort of sense of history and legacy isn't something we have. How many of us here know our family history back more than a century and a half? To those Southern folks, having an official state government building proudly showing the flags makes sense. Remember that the men who fought and died under this flag were doing so under the authority of the very states where this flag flies on state grounds.
I'd rather see more use of the flag, even by proud black Southerners, than to see it slandered and hidden.
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Informative) by mendax on Monday June 29 2015, @06:39AM
It seems that South Carolina needs reconquered once again to remind those nutcases once again that they lost the Civil War. The adage coined by James Petigru, one of its senators I believe in 1861, when South Carolina left the union remains an accurate statement today: "South Carolina is too small to be a state and too large to be an insane asylum." The war is over, the South lost, live with it.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2015, @01:43PM
> The war is over, the South lost, live with it.
The South didn't lose, the slavers lost. Plenty of people in the South were not on board with fighting for the right of the rich to keep slaves, they just didn't have economic clout to impose their will on their neighbors. It is important to stop giving the slavers and racists false legitimacy by conflating their loss with a defeat for South as a whole. The rest of the South actually won when the slavers lost.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday June 30 2015, @03:15PM
>The rest of the South actually won when the slavers lost.
Well, that might have been true, if not for the carpet-baggers and other exploitation levied against the South following their defeat. Not to mention all the friends and family who lost their lives after being drafted by the Confederate army. Being on the losing side of a drawn-out shooting war is rarely a victory, no matter whose ideology you might support.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Adamsjas on Monday June 29 2015, @06:52AM
You're wrong on just about everything you say.
The confederate flag has been GAINING racist meaning for decades. As others have pointed out, the flag wasn't used till the 60s.
There are a lot better flags with a lot less racist overtones to wave in the face of the feds. Try Gadsden flag.
If being a racist is how you think you will control the federal government you are sadly mistaken. Guys like you empower federal overreaching.
(Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Tuesday June 30 2015, @02:12AM
Gaining? With the Klan and racist politicians largely unable to have any significant impact for the last few decades I'd say that's not true at all. The future is bright, despite the media's narrative.
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2015, @05:52AM
"And this is why I am justified to disregard your property rights."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2015, @11:10PM
Government buildings are property of The People. There are no private property rights to disregard here.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 30 2015, @04:09AM
In this case, The People of South Carolina. The woman that did this is from North Carolina.
(Score: 2, Informative) by deathlyslow on Monday June 29 2015, @05:08PM
Just a point of fact here. The flag was removed from the state house proper around 15 years ago. The currently flying flag is on the grounds, on a 20 foot tall pole next a monument for fallen confederate soldiers, but not on the state house itself like it used to.
Neither good nor bad just the facts.
Personally I think it should be in a museum just like any other historically significant piece. That's where it belongs, not on the even on the grounds of my home state.
(Score: 2) by el_oscuro on Tuesday June 30 2015, @12:45AM
It originally started as a battle flag for the Northern VA army in the battle of Bull Run, for the most prosaic of reasons: The original confederate flag looked too much like the US flag and commanders couldn't tell them apart in battle. It's origin in Fairfax county is documented by this nondescript [washingtonpost.com] sign along the highway.
It became a symbol of racism and hatred later, and while I don't think it should be banned by the government (freedom of speech and all that), it definitely has no business flying above an official government building these days.
SoylentNews is Bacon! [nueskes.com]