COLUMBIA, SC & GASTONIA, NC – Charlotte activist Bree Newsome is out of jail tonight after posting $3,000 bond. She was arrested in Columbia after scaling the pole outside the State House Saturday morning and removing the Confederate Battle Flag.
She told a reporter “it was time for somebody to step up.” “Do the right thing. We have to bury hate. It’s been too long. It’s killing us literally. We can’t do this. We can’t be warring with each other all the time. It’s not right,” Newsome said.
The debate over the flag ignited after the murders of nine people inside a Charleston church. Pictures showed suspect Dylann Roof with Confederate Flags.
Since then, protests have erupted, with stores pulling Confederate merchandise. But supporters of the Stars and Bars say the flag is not a symbol of hate.
Over a hundred people joined in a “Save Our Flag” rally outside the Confederate Monument at the Gaston County Courthouse Saturday. “This flag stands for honor, heritage, and our ancestor’s blood is on this flag,” says Gastonia resident Marshall Bumgarner.
Members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans argue the Charleston shooter didn’t understand the flag and the symbols and heritage behind it. “There have been some groups. And most people know who they are, that have taken this flag and ruined it for us,” says Waynesville, NC resident Ron Green.
Supporters of the flag called the Charleston shooter a “racist, bigot, lunatic,” and say his actions do not represent them or the Confederate Flag.
“Hate groups have used our flag as a symbol of hate and racism, when it does not stand for that. If they knew the true history of the war, what that flag really means, they would not have used it for those purposes,” says Bill Starnes, with the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
