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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: 1) by khallow on Monday June 29 2015, @09:02PM
Convincing people to fight for you regardless of your core belief is the central aim of politicking. It is also beside the point since from it's inception the Confederacy was about keeping slavery; it was one of the central points of the Cornerstone Speech.
I obviously disagree. Confederate soldiers endured considerable privation over a several year period. You wouldn't get them out of bed to protect rich peoples' slaves yet they fought, suffered, and died for up to four years. That shows there was more to this rebellion than just protecting slavery. As I see it, the reason was that there was a considerable loyalty to the state in the early years of the US republic at least in the South and most people sided with their state over the federal government.
In large part, this was because the federal government was puny prior to the Civil War while the state level played a prominent role in the lives of their citizens. There also wasn't as much mobility as there is today. So the period leading up to the Civil War was also about a remote government imposing its will on a local respected government.