After making headlines last week for climbing up a flag pole to take down the Confederate flag in South Carolina, Bree Newsome is speaking out on what provoked her to make what some are calling a heroic act.
During a recent sit down with “Good Morning America,” the activist whose GoFundMe for her legal fees is up to $122,000, explained why she took it upon herself to remove the symbol, representing a war that took thousands of lives.
“I just felt very strongly that we needed that moment to say, ‘enough is enough,’” Newsome said in an edited interview on GMA Thursday. “We want an end to the hate.”
The 30-year old was arrested Saturday, after using a harness to climb up the Columbia grounds 30-foot flagpole as officers yelled for her to come down. “You cannot get to me with hatred and oppression and violence,” Newsome shouted from the top of the pole. “I come against you in the name of God. This flag comes down today.”
Newsome was later arrested alongside James Tyson, a 30-year-old activist who held the pole to make sure she did not fall. And while two Black workers were forced to re-fly the flag less than an hour later, Newsome said she accomplished her goal.
“A lot of people have been inspired by that moment,” she said.
Newsome and the fellow activist were charged with defacing a monument after allegedly removing the flag. Should she be convicted, she could face up to $5,000 in fines and up to three years in prison.
