Watch Bree Newsome climb a 30-foot flagpole to take down South Carolina's Confederate flag

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvXygFjtPLo

An activist in South Carolina climbed a flagpole in Columbia early on Saturday morning and removed the Confederate flag flying in front of the capitol building. The woman’s action came a day after President Barack Obama gave the eulogy for a black pastor who was murdered by an apparent white supremacist along with eight other people in a Charleston church last week.

A woman identified by a protest organizer as Bree Newsome, a 30-year-old youth organizer from Charlotte, North Carolina, climbed the flagpole before 6am and took down the controversial emblem of the antebellum, slaveholding south, with the assistance of another activist. Newsome was halfway up the 30ft pole when police demanded that she climb back down, but she continued upward and removed the flag.

Activist Mervyn Marcano told the Guardian that when Newsome returned to the ground she and James Ian Dyson were arrested by capitol police and taken to a detention center.

Sherri Iacobelli, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Safety, told the Associated Press Newsome and Tyson, 30, also of Charlotte, had been charged with defacing monuments on state capitol grounds, a misdemeanor that carries a fine of up to $5,000 and a prison term of up to three years, or both.

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A crowdfunding campaign for Newsome’s bail, set up by the activist group Credo, met its $20,000 goal in three hours today. Less than 10 minutes later, it was up to $25,000.

Credo says it will cover the credit card and processing fees from Indiegogo, the crowdfunding platform. At the time of this writing, more than 1,000 people have donated to the campaign.

Source

[Darnell 8,478]

flagpole? ok, so why not just lower the flag instead? sure, ya gotta cut off the lock at the bottom, but so what? would have been faster.

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

Because it was stated last week that there wasn't rope on it to lower it, apparently.

[Darnell 8,478]

oh wait. after watching the video, i learn she is black. more useful, imo, to climb up to the top.

[Operator 1,925]

Is there a video of her actually climbing the flagpole?

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

There is. Apologies. I thought I had it. The still image was the same or very similar for both videos and I was watching the other over my wife's shoulder and didn't note the URL.

[Operator 1,925]

This video is much better!

I'm guessing the guy in the hardhat was in on it also since they cuffed him as well.

[eieio 1,594]

She is the poster child on how to be arrested. No fighting,yelling etc……just gives up and goes in peace.

Of course that kind of bites. If everyone did that we would not have many "police brutality" videos to view.

Some posters on here would be out of a job.

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

This video is much better!

I'm guessing the guy in the hardhat was in on it also since they cuffed him as well.

Sorry for the crappy original one I posted.

And he was her spotter and partner-in-civil-disobedience.

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

She is the poster child on how to be arrested. No fighting,yelling etc……just gives up and goes in peace.

Of course that kind of bites. If everyone did that we would not have many "police brutality" videos to view.

Some posters on here would be out of a job.

Funnily enough, despite her ignoring police instructions--'ma'am, come down from there'--for her ascent, not a cop there treated her with disrespect OR pointed a weapon at her.

These cops were the poster children for how to arrest a peaceful protestor.

[eieio 1,594]

These cops were the poster children for how to arrest a peaceful protestor.

The cops know what to do with peaceful protesters. They just treat them as they did. Happens all the time.

This woman wants to protest again. She was smart about the whole situation.

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

The cops know what to do with peaceful protesters. They just treat them as they did. Happens all the time.

This woman wants to protest again. She was smart about the whole situation.

It does happen all the time. Many cops know what to do with peaceful protestors. Many don't. For example, I lived in Toronto during the G8 summit. At one point, protestors stood peacefully and sang our national anthem. As soon as the last note trailed off, the police rushed the protestors and riots destroyed our streets.

This woman was lucky. She got good cops who understood the value of civil disobedience and what to do with peaceful protestors.

It's easy to peacefully surrender to people who are treating you with respect.

Those cops wanted to make it to retirement as police and receive their pensions. They were smart about the whole situation.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

[JohnR! 5,495]

It would have been easier to just shoot it to smithereens...

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

It would have been easier to just shoot it to smithereens...

Yeah, but that would have just been more violence.