No Regrets, Says Woman Who Took Down Flag

CHARLESTON, SC

Bree Newsome, the 30-year-old woman, who was arrested June 27 for scaling the flag pole in front of the South Carolina Statehouse and removing the Confederate flag, said recently she would “absolutely” do it again. The banner, she said, is a symbol of white supremacy, hatred and racial terror. 

 In a statement issued by NC NAACP President Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, he wrote,  “Our sister from North Carolina, Bree Newsome, is a committed, trained, non-violent messenger of the truth. 

“She stands in a long tradition. The Hebrew midwives who stood up to Pharaoh; Jeremiah who put on an iron yoke in defiance of a king and unfit practices; Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and more recently hundreds of protesters in Moral Monday who were all considered, at first, criminals for their acts of conscience. 

“We stand in solidarity with her, and the deep commitment which she has to justice, love, and true inter-racial community. We stand with her as she is our family.”

Read entire story in the New Journal and Guide, July 9-15.