Bree Newsome knew she would be arrested if she attempted to climb the flag pole at the South Carolina capitol to take down the Confederate battle flag. What she didn’t know was whether she would be hurt or even killed during the mission.
“The retaliation piece was much scarier to me than arrest,” Newsome, 30, told Democracy Now. “Being up on the flagpole, you never know who might walk by. You know, you could get shot.”
She was not, in fact, shot or attacked in the 10 minutes it took her to climb the pole and descend with the flag.
James Tyson, a White supporter, stood guard at the bottom.
“We knew that we needed to get her high enough above the ground before the guards would come out, that she wouldn’t be able to just be pulled right off,” Tyson told Democracy Now.
After three minutes or so, when she was well out of reach, Tyson was joined by police.
Newsome – who learned how to climb two days before the action on June 27 – said adrenaline made the climb surprisingly easy, and the flag was easily removed.
“I was just relieved at how simple it was to just unhook it, because our intention was not to cause property damage,” she told Democracy Now.
As she descended the 30-foot pole, a police officer began to scold her for breaking the law. She responded with scripture.
“I quoted from Isaiah: ‘What kind of fast have I chosen? Is it not to break the yoke of oppression?’” she told Democracy Now.
“Yes, I broke the law, but laws can also be unjust. The law that protects that symbol of hate is an unjust law. The people who are elected in office who want to take it down are obligated by law to debate over whether or not they can take it down. I don’t think that symbol deserves the dignity of debate. It’s a flag of treason, and it’s a flag of hatred.”
Tyson said he was moved to act because the racist symbol was left flying even during the funeral for the nine African Americans murdered on June 17 by a young White supremacist at Emanuel AME Church.
“I’m so sick of not only the fear and intimidation that White supremacy brings to our culture, but also just that they wouldn’t even take it down for the funeral,” Tyson told Democracy Now. “They wouldn’t even lower it to half-mast, you know?”
Newsome and Tyson both feared police aggression when she descended, but the police allowed Tyson to assist her as she reached the ground and both activists were arrested without incident.
“Fortunately, the police were very professional with me,” Newsome said. “But that was something else to consider, that there was some danger.”
Defying fear, she said, was at the core of the action.
“That flag also represents just fear. It’s racial intimidation. It’s fear,” Newsome told Democracy Now.
“These are the same things that they would fly when people were marching for integration. They would be flying that flag, because it’s a sign of intimidation, which is undergirded by violence, and has been undergirded by violence ever since the failure of Reconstruction. To have a black woman climb up there and take that down was a strong sign that we refuse to be ruled by this fear.”
Within about an hour, workers had raised a new Confederate flag at the capitol. Newsome and Tyson were charged with defacing state property, with a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
The action went viral and was seen around the world. A bail fund quickly raised over $120,000. Ava DuVernay, director of the Oscar-nominated film “Selma,” tweeted, “I hope I get the call to direct the motion picture about a Black superhero I admire. Her name is @BreeNewsome.”
Newsome said she was inspired by a biblical superhero, David, who told Goliath, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, and I come against you in the name of the Lord.” Newsome echoed those words in her comments to police: “You come against me with hatred and oppression and violence. I come against you in the name of God.”
In the moment, she said she felt the power of her biblical inspiration.
“That’s what that moment felt like, because I come from a historically completely disempowered place,” she said. “I think that’s why it was so powerful to a lot of people, especially to Black women, to see me up there holding that flag in that way.”
She was not, in fact, shot or attacked in the 10 minutes it took her to climb the pole and descend with the flag.
James Tyson, a White supporter, stood guard at the bottom.
“We knew that we needed to get her high enough above the ground before the guards would come out, that she wouldn’t be able to just be pulled right off,” Tyson told Democracy Now.
After three minutes or so, when she was well out of reach, Tyson was joined by police.
Newsome – who learned how to climb two days before the action on June 27 – said adrenaline made the climb surprisingly easy, and the flag was easily removed.
“I was just relieved at how simple it was to just unhook it, because our intention was not to cause property damage,” she told Democracy Now.
As she descended the 30-foot pole, a police officer began to scold her for breaking the law. She responded with scripture.
“I quoted from Isaiah: ‘What kind of fast have I chosen? Is it not to break the yoke of oppression?’” she told Democracy Now.
“Yes, I broke the law, but laws can also be unjust. The law that protects that symbol of hate is an unjust law. The people who are elected in office who want to take it down are obligated by law to debate over whether or not they can take it down. I don’t think that symbol deserves the dignity of debate. It’s a flag of treason, and it’s a flag of hatred.”
Tyson said he was moved to act because the racist symbol was left flying even during the funeral for the nine African Americans murdered on June 17 by a young White supremacist at Emanuel AME Church.
“I’m so sick of not only the fear and intimidation that White supremacy brings to our culture, but also just that they wouldn’t even take it down for the funeral,” Tyson told Democracy Now. “They wouldn’t even lower it to half-mast, you know?”
Newsome and Tyson both feared police aggression when she descended, but the police allowed Tyson to assist her as she reached the ground and both activists were arrested without incident.
“Fortunately, the police were very professional with me,” Newsome said. “But that was something else to consider, that there was some danger.”
Defying fear, she said, was at the core of the action.
“That flag also represents just fear. It’s racial intimidation. It’s fear,” Newsome told Democracy Now.
“These are the same things that they would fly when people were marching for integration. They would be flying that flag, because it’s a sign of intimidation, which is undergirded by violence, and has been undergirded by violence ever since the failure of Reconstruction. To have a black woman climb up there and take that down was a strong sign that we refuse to be ruled by this fear.”
Within about an hour, workers had raised a new Confederate flag at the capitol. Newsome and Tyson were charged with defacing state property, with a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
The action went viral and was seen around the world. A bail fund quickly raised over $120,000. Ava DuVernay, director of the Oscar-nominated film “Selma,” tweeted, “I hope I get the call to direct the motion picture about a Black superhero I admire. Her name is @BreeNewsome.”
Newsome said she was inspired by a biblical superhero, David, who told Goliath, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, and I come against you in the name of the Lord.” Newsome echoed those words in her comments to police: “You come against me with hatred and oppression and violence. I come against you in the name of God.”
In the moment, she said she felt the power of her biblical inspiration.
“That’s what that moment felt like, because I come from a historically completely disempowered place,” she said. “I think that’s why it was so powerful to a lot of people, especially to Black women, to see me up there holding that flag in that way.”
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