Bree Newsome

Newsome attended Oakland Mills High School in Columbia, Maryland. In 2003, she was named one of the "20 Coolest Girls in America" by YM magazine.{{cite web|last1=Sherman|first1=Natalie|title=Bree Newsome, who removed Confederate flag, known as principled leader|url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-bree-newsome-20150627-13-story.html|website=The Baltimore Sun|access-date=July 7, 2015|date=June 27, 2015}}{{cite web|title=Panelists: Octavia E. Butler Celebration of Arts and Activism|url=https://oebsociety.wordpress.com/tag/junot-diaz/|website=The Octavia E. Butler Society|date=February 7, 2014 |access-date=June 28, 2015}} While still in high school, Newsome created a short animated film for which she won a college scholarship. She studied film at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.{{cite web|url=http://www.breenewsome.com/#!about/c13dn|title=About Bree Newsome|website=BreeNewsome.com|access-date=June 27, 2015}}

Her film Wake has won numerous awards, including the Outstanding Independent Short Film award in the Black Reel Awards of 2012{{cite web|title=The Help Cleans Up At the Black Reel Awards|url=https://blackreelawards.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/1168/|website=The Black Reel Awards|date=February 10, 2012|access-date=June 27, 2015}} and the Best Short Film at the BET Urban World Film Festival.{{cite web|title=Watch A Film By Bree Newsome, The Hero Who Took Down The Stars And Bars|url=http://io9.com/watch-a-film-by-bree-newsome-the-hero-who-took-down-th-1714438388|website=io9|date=June 28, 2015 |access-date=June 28, 2015}} It has been screened at many film festivals including the 63rd annual Cannes Film Festival in France, the New York International Latino Film Festival, and the [http://montrealblackfilm.com Montreal International Black Film Festival]. Newsome was the first African-American undergraduate to be nominated for the prestigious Wasserman Award (Spike Lee having won the award as a graduate student).

Newsome said that her experience as a black woman working in the horror and sci-fi film genres inspired her to become an activist. Speaking as part of a panel at Spelman College in 2014, she said: "The space that exists for many of us, as a young black girl, is so extremely limited so that you really can't go very far without being an activist, without being in defiance of something."{{cite news|last1=Contrera|first1=Jessica|title=Who is Bree Newsome? Why the woman who took down the Confederate flag became an activist.|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2015/06/28/who-is-bree-newsome-why-the-woman-who-took-down-the-confederate-flag-became-an-activist/|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=June 28, 2015}}

Newsome was arrested in July 2013 at a sit-in at the office of then North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis while protesting North Carolina's voter ID law.{{cite news |author=Saki Knafo |title=North Carolina Voter ID Law Targets Student Voters, too |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/25/north-carolina-voter-id_n_3654826.html |work=The Huffington Post |date=July 25, 2013 |access-date=June 30, 2015}}

On June 27, 2015, she was arrested for taking down the Confederate battle flag that was displayed on the grounds of the South Carolina State House{{cite web|title=Watch Bree Newsome climb a 30-foot flagpole to take down South Carolina's Confederate flag|url=https://www.vox.com/2015/6/27/8856969/bree-newsome-confederate-flag|first=Libby|last= Nelson|website=Vox|date=June 27, 2015|access-date=June 27, 2015}}{{cite magazine|last1=Locker|first1=Melissa|title=Activist Bree Newsome Arrested After Daring South Carolina Confederate Flag Removal|url=http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/06/activist-bree-newsome-arrested-after-daring-south-carolina-confederate-flag-removal|magazine=Vanity Fair|date=June 27, 2015|access-date=June 27, 2015}} in direct action.{{cite web|last1=Caslin|first1=Yvette|title=Bree Newsome applauded by NAACP president Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II|website=Rolling Out|url=http://rollingout.com/community-leadership/bree-newsome-applauded-by-naacp-president-rev-dr-william-j-barber-ii/|date=June 27, 2015|access-date=June 27, 2015}}{{cite web|last1=|title=Aktivistin Bree Newsome holt Südstaatenflagge ein|website=Der Spiegel|url=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/usa-aktivistin-bree-newsome-holt-suedstaatenflagge-ein-a-1041026.html|date=June 27, 2015|access-date=June 27, 2015}}{{in lang|de}} Newsome, aged 30,{{cite news|last1=Blidner|first1=Rachelle|title=Confederate flag raised again at South Carolina Statehouse after Bree Newsome climbs pole to remove it|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/woman-removes-confederate-flag-s-statehouse-grounds-article-1.2273299|website=New York Daily News|access-date=June 27, 2015|date=June 27, 2015}} while scaling the {{convert|30|ft|adj=on}} pole, was hailed by policemen who told her to get down. She responded: "In the name of Jesus, this flag has to come down. You come against me with hatred and oppression and violence. I come against you in the name of God. This flag comes down today."{{cite web|title=Thank you, Bree, for removing the Confederate flag|url=http://www.evangelicalsforsocialaction.org/nonviolence-and-peacemaking/thank-you-bree-for-removing-the-confederate-flag-2/|website=Evangelicals for Social Action|access-date=December 3, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906121119/http://www.evangelicalsforsocialaction.org/nonviolence-and-peacemaking/thank-you-bree-for-removing-the-confederate-flag-2/|archive-date=September 6, 2015|date=June 27, 2015}}{{cite web|last1=Karlin|first1=Mark|title=Bree Newsome Brings Wings of Justice to South Carolina by Taking Down Confederate Flag|url=http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/bree-newsome-brings-wings-of-justice-to-charleston-by-taking-down-confederate-flag/19402-bree-newsome-brings-wings-of-justice-to-charleston-by-taking-down-confederate-flag|website=Truth Out|access-date=December 3, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151002110131/http://truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/bree-newsome-brings-wings-of-justice-to-charleston-by-taking-down-confederate-flag/19402-bree-newsome-brings-wings-of-justice-to-charleston-by-taking-down-confederate-flag|archive-date=October 2, 2015|date=June 30, 2015}}{{cite web|title=Bree Newsome|url=http://www.aparchive.com/search?startd=&endd=&allFilters=Colombia%3ALocations%2CCelebrity%3ASubject&query=bree+newsome&advsearchStartDateFilter=&advsearchEndDateFilter=&searchFilterHdSDFormat=All&searchFilterDigitized=All&searchFiltercolorFormat=All&searchFilteraspectratioFormat=All|website=AP Archive|access-date=December 3, 2015}} As she lowered the flag and descended into the arms of awaiting policemen, she announced she was prepared to be arrested. Both Newsome and a man who police said was helping her, James Ian Tyson, were arrested. Onlookers applauded Newsome's efforts as she was handcuffed. As she was led away, she recited the 23rd Psalm from the Bible. The flag was raised again 45 minutes later.{{cite news|last1=Santaella|first1=Tony|title=Pair released on bond after removing Confederate flag at S.C. Capitol|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/27/south-carolina-confederate-flag-remove-activist-ferguson-action/29383973/|website=USA Today|date=June 27, 2015}}

Both activists were charged with defacing monuments on capitol grounds,{{cite web|last1=Yuhas|first1=Alan|title=Activist pulls down Confederate flag in front of South Carolina statehouse|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/27/woman-removes-confederate-flag-south-carolina-statehouse|website=The Guardian|date=June 27, 2015 | access-date=June 27, 2015}} a misdemeanor punishable by a fine or a maximum jail sentence of three years,{{cite web |title=South Carolina Code § 10-11-315: Defacing monuments on capitol grounds |url=http://law.justia.com/codes/south-carolina/2013/title-10/chapter-11/section-10-11-315 |publisher=Justia |access-date=July 3, 2015}} and taken to Richland County Jail.{{cite news |title=Confederate flag pulled from SC capitol grounds by activists (+video) |author=Sammy Fretwell and Sarah Ellis |url=http://www.thestate.com/news/local/article25652377.html |newspaper=The State |date=June 27, 2015 |access-date=July 4, 2015}} A judge set a $3,000 bond for each.

Newsome's act of civil disobedience made international headlines and television news. By late afternoon, a crowdfunding campaign had raised over $60,000 for her bail. Filmmaker Michael Moore offered on Twitter to pay her bail and legal fees.{{cite tweet|number=614814840893255680|user=MMFlint|title=Friends of @BreeNewsome - I will pay her bail money or any legal fees she has. Please let her know this. #Charleston #TakeDownTheFlag |accessdate=June 27, 2015|date=June 27, 2015}} Todd Rutherford, the minority leader of the state House of Representatives, offered to represent Newsome in court. NAACP chapter president Reverend William Barber II applauded Newsome's action, comparing it to those of Rosa Parks and other icons of the Civil Rights Movement.{{cite web|last1=Holloway|first1=Lynette|title=Here's Everything We Know About Bree Newsome|url=http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2015/06/here_s_everything_we_know_about_bree_newsome_who_removed_the_confederate.html|website=The Root|access-date=June 29, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150630201841/http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2015/06/here_s_everything_we_know_about_bree_newsome_who_removed_the_confederate.html|archive-date=June 30, 2015|url-status=dead}} Colette Gaiter, an associate professor of art and social change at the University of Delaware, whose writing was republished by Time magazine, called the act "a significant piece of socially engaged performance art".{{cite news |url=https://time.com/3944951/bree-newsome-confederate-flag/ |title=Bree Newsome's Confederate Flag Pole Climb Was an Artistic Statement |first=Colette |last=Gaiter |date=July 1, 2015 |publisher=Time |access-date=July 4, 2015 }} After her release, Newsome gave numerous magazine interviews and appeared on talk shows such as Democracy Now! and The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore.{{cite web|title=Bree Newsome: As SC Lawmakers Debate Removing Confederate Flag, Meet the Activist Who Took It Down|url=http://www.democracynow.org/2015/7/6/bree_newsome_as_sc_lawmakers_debate|website=Democracy Now|date=July 6, 2015 |access-date=July 7, 2015}}{{cite news|last1=Helms|first1=Ann|title=Larry Wilmore toasts Charlotte flag activist Bree Newsome with juleps|url=http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article26273794.html|access-date=December 2, 2015|newspaper=The Charlotte Observer|date=July 3, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150815063128/http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article26273794.html|archive-date=August 15, 2015}} She also appears in the award-winning 2015 documentary, Bars4justice.{{cite web|title=Bars4Justice trailer|website=Vimeo.com|url=https://vimeo.com/152839341}}

Newsome's actions were criticized by several South Carolina legislators who said that they were in favor of the flag's removal, but illegal actions like Newsome's could hurt their goal to have the flag permanently removed.{{cite web|url= http://www.kaaltv.com/article/stories/s3837580.shtml|title= Woman Arrested for Removing Confederate Flag in SC Statehouse|date= June 6, 2015|access-date= July 10, 2015|archive-date= February 25, 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210225013026/https://www.kaaltv.com/article/stories/s3837580.shtml|url-status= dead}} Calls for the flag's removal had been on the increase since the murder of nine people in the Charleston church shooting of June 17.

Several days after her arrest, Newsome released a statement to Blue Nation Review revealing what propelled her to act.

I realized that now is the time for true courage the morning after the Charleston Massacre shook me to the core of my being. I couldn't sleep. I sat awake in the dead of night. All the ghosts of the past seemed to be rising.

Not long ago, I had watched the beginning of Selma, the reenactment of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing and had shuddered at the horrors of history.

But this was neither a scene from a movie nor was it the past. A white man had just entered a black church and massacred people as they prayed. He had assassinated a civil rights leader. This was not a page in a textbook I was reading nor an inscription on a monument I was visiting.{{Cite web

| url = http://bluenationreview.com/exclusive-bree-newsome-speaks-for-the-first-time-after-courageous-act-of-civil-disobedience/

| title = Exclusive: Bree Newsome Speaks For The First Time After Courageous Act of Civil Disobedience

| website = Blue Nation Review

| access-date = February 26, 2016

}}

A vote on the presence of the flag took place among South Carolina's House of Representatives on July 9, which resulted in the final removal of the flag the following Friday.{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-33457169 | work=BBC News | title=Confederate flag to be removed from South Carolina capitol | date=July 9, 2015|archive-date=November 18, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151118134050/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-33457169}} The charges against Newsome and Tyson were later dropped.{{cite news| url=https://news.yahoo.com/bree-newsome-removing-confederate-flag-attacked-symbol-hate-200000565.html | work=Yahoo News | title=Bree Newsome on Removing the Confederate Flag: "We Attacked This Symbol of Hate With Symbolic Action" | date=February 4, 2016 | access-date = June 16, 2020}}

As a presidential candidate speaking at a Martin Luther King Day 2016 celebration in Charleston, Hillary Clinton credited Newsome for taking the matter into her own hands by "shimmying up that flagpole" as a step in the process. "Every year, you've gathered right here and said that that symbol of division and racism went against everything Dr. King stood for. We couldn't celebrate him and the Confederacy, we had to choose. And South Carolina finally made the right choice."{{cite web|last1=Reilly|first1=Mollie|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-confederate-flag-mlk-day_us_569d1a05e4b0778f46fa238a|title=Hillary Clinton Celebrates Confederate Flag's Removal At MLK Day Ceremony|date=January 18, 2016|website=Huffington Post}}

In February 2016, Newsome told Ebony magazine that she had been motivated in part by her ancestors having been enslaved and subjected to racial terrorism in South Carolina.{{Cite web |title=Bree Newsome on Removing the Confederate Battle Flag |url=http://www.ebony.com/black-history/bree-newsome-confederate-flag-ebonybhm#axzz3zuMOJc1K |first=Demetria |last=Irwin |date=February 5, 2016 |publisher=Ebony |access-date=February 12, 2016 }}

Newsome has continued to speak on race-related issues such as affirmative action. She has given interviews to newspapers and magazines such as The Crisis, Vox, and Marie Claire, made television appearances, and given public speeches at colleges and other venues.{{cite web |website=ABC 4 News |url=http://abcnews4.com/news/local/video-arrest-made-during-bree-newsome-protests |date=February 22, 2017 |title=Black Lives Matter protester arrested as tempers flare outside Bree Newsome lecture}} Following the deadly attack during the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 17, 2017, Newsome's op-ed piece and video commentary appeared in The Washington Post.{{cite news |last1=Newsome |first1=Bree |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=August 18, 2017 |title=Go ahead, topple the monuments to the Confederacy. All of them. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/go-ahead-topple-the-monuments-to-the-confederacy-all-of-them/2017/08/18/6b54c658-8427-11e7-ab27-1a21a8e006ab_story.html}}

Beginning in 2017, Newsome has worked as an activist for housing rights.{{Cite news|last=Mzezewa|first=Tariro|date=2020-06-14|title=The Woman Who Took Down a Confederate Flag on What Came Next|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/14/us/politics/bree-newsome-bass-confederate-flag.html|access-date=2020-06-15|issn=0362-4331}}

In an October 13, 2021 podcast discussing Colin Kaepernick's book, Abolition for the People: The Movement for a Future Without Policing and Prisons, Newsome argued all law enforcement, criminal justice and prisons should be completely abolished.Ep. 185 Abolition for the People with Bree Newsome and Kiese Laymon|url=https://thestackspodcast.com/2021/10/13/ep-185-bree-newsome-kiese-laymon/

Newsome expressed solidarity with Palestine during the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip and described Joe Biden as a dictator.{{cite web|url=https://gwhatchet.com/2023/12/21/activist-accuses-officials-of-disinviting-her-from-event-due-to-pro-palestinian-statements/|title=Activist accuses officials of disinviting her from event due to pro-Palestinian/Hamas statements|work=The GW Hatchet|first=Ianne|last=Salvosa|date=December 21, 2023|access-date=February 12, 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-dictator-worse-trump-progressive-activist-1856108|title=Joe Biden Is a 'Dictator' and 'Worse Than Trump': Progressive Acvist|date=December 28, 2023 |work=Newsweek|first=Katherine|last=Fung|access-date=February 12, 2024}} Newsome defended Saira Rao's argument that Zionist doctors and nurses pose a threat to Black and Muslim patients.{{cite web|url=https://www.commentary.org/seth-mandel/every-conspiracy-everywhere-all-at-once/|title=Every Conspiracy Everywhere All At Once|work=Commentary|first=Seth|last=Mandel|date=January 4, 2024|access-date=February 12, 2024}}

• Outstanding Independent Short Film award, Black Reel Awards of 2012
• Best Short Film at the BET Urban World Film Festival
• NAACP Image Award – Chairman's Award, presented by NAACP chairwoman Roslyn Brock on February 5, 2016{{cite web|title=The Complete List of Winners from the 47th NAACP Image Awards|url=https://www.eurweb.com/2016/02/the-complete-list-of-winners-from-the-47th-naacp-image-awards/|website=EurWeb|date=February 6, 2016|access-date=February 7, 2016}}

{{reflist|30em}}

{{Wikiquote}}

• {{Official website}}
• {{IMDb name|3435547}}
• {{cite web|title=Bree Newsome Speaking on Art, Activism, Science Fiction and Horror @ Spelman|url=http://newblackman.blogspot.com/2015/06/bree-newsome-speaking-on-art-activism.html|website=NewBlackMan|access-date=June 27, 2015}}
• {{worldcat |id=np-newsome,%20bree |name=Bree Newsome}}

{{NAACP Image Award – Chairman's Award}}

{{Black Lives Matter}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newsome, Bree}}

Category:1985 births

Category:Living people

Category:People from Columbia, Maryland

Category:Artists from Charlotte, North Carolina

Category:Filmmakers from North Carolina

Category:Activists for African-American civil rights

Category:African-American Christians

Category:Civil rights protests in the United States

Category:Tisch School of the Arts alumni

Category:20th-century African-American people

Category:20th-century African-American women

Category:21st-century African-American people

Category:African-American activists

Category:Police abolitionists

Category:Prison abolitionists

Category:American prison reformers

Category:American activists for Palestinian solidarity