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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: 2) by bzipitidoo on Monday June 29 2015, @01:17PM
Distrust of power and rebelling against authority runs deep in America, for good reason. Power that could and should be employed for the benefit of all is so often abused. Consider the Dukes of Hazzard. The county officials are always scheming to get rich off the backs of the people through some illicit, unfair, and abusive employment of their powers. The heroes who stop them drive around in a car with that Confederate flag painted on the roof. I'm good with symbols of rebellion against corrupt power.
But the Confederate flag is a symbol of racism first, and rebellion second, and the TV show completely ignores the primary to focus on the rebel aspect. In that, the show is a reflection upon society, pandering to the fantasies of southern whites. There are so many other symbols they could have used, such as the first US flag with 13 stars, the "Don't Tread on Me" flag, the Jolly Roger, the Guy Fawkes mask, the flag of Republican France or Marianne, the Phrygian cap or liberty cap, the Liberty Bell, or a symbolic representation of the US Constitution or even the Magna Carta. The Confederate flag is no better than a Nazi flag. Even a Communist flag would be better.
Another telling fact of the show is that there is not an African American person to be seen anywhere. Like the racism, the existence of African Americans is completely ignored by the TV show.
Two of my great great grandfathers served in the Civil War, one on each side. Family tradition has it that my Confederate ancestor was in Lee's army, and deserted about the time Richmond fell. Wish I could ask him why he fought at all for such a despicable cause. He never owned any slaves, he wasn't rich enough. Why did he put his life on the line for rich slave owners? Did he really hope to one day gain admission to the club? They didn't think much more of his sort, the poor, than they thought of slaves. Slavery helped keep him poor by putting downward pressure on wages.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2015, @01:46PM
Go read up on the history of the US during that period and tell me that it was about 'rebelling' rather than the first steps in enforcing conformance.
There was a lot of injustice being enforced by the very people who had a decade earlier been promoting independence from the crown.
(Score: 1) by AntiAntagonist on Monday June 29 2015, @06:30PM
Citation please