Bree Newsome | |
|---|---|
 Newsome atCUNY Graduate Center, 2015 | |
| Born | (1985-05-13)May 13, 1985 (age 39) Durham, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Education | New York University (BFA) |
| Website | Official website |
Brittany Ann Byuarm Newsome Bass[1] (born May 13, 1985)[2] is an American filmmaker, activist and speaker fromCharlotte, North Carolina. She is best known for her act ofcivil disobedience on June 27, 2015, when she was arrested for removing theConfederate flag from theSouth Carolina state house grounds in the aftermath of theCharleston church shooting. The resulting publicity put pressure on state officials to remove the flag, and it was taken down permanently on July 10, 2015.
Newsome attendedOakland Mills High School inColumbia, Maryland. In 2003, she was named one of the "20 Coolest Girls in America" byYM magazine.[3][4] While still in high school, Newsome created a short animated film for which she won a college scholarship. She studied film atNew York University'sTisch School of the Arts.[5]
Her filmWake has won numerous awards, including the Outstanding Independent Short Film award in theBlack Reel Awards of 2012[6] and the Best Short Film at theBET Urban World Film Festival.[7] It has been screened at many film festivals including the63rd annual Cannes Film Festival in France, theNew York International Latino Film Festival, and theMontreal International Black Film Festival. Newsome was the first African-American undergraduate to be nominated for the prestigiousWasserman Award (Spike Lee having won the award as a graduate student).[4]
Newsome said that her experience as a black woman working in thehorror andsci-fi film genres inspired her to become an activist. Speaking as part of a panel atSpelman 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."[8]
Newsome was arrested in July 2013 at asit-in at the office of thenNorth Carolina House SpeakerThom Tillis while protesting North Carolina'svoter ID law.[9]
On June 27, 2015, she was arrested for taking down theConfederate battle flag that was displayed on the grounds of theSouth Carolina State House[10][11] indirect action.[12][13] Newsome, aged 30,[14] while scaling the 30-foot (9.1 m) 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."[15][16][17] 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 the23rd Psalm from theBible. The flag was raised again 45 minutes later.[18]
Both activists were charged with defacing monuments on capitol grounds,[19] amisdemeanor punishable by a fine or a maximum jail sentence of three years,[19][20] and taken to Richland County Jail.[21] A judge set a $3,000 bond for each.[21]
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. FilmmakerMichael Moore offered on Twitter to pay her bail and legal fees.[22]Todd Rutherford, the minority leader of the state House of Representatives, offered to represent Newsome in court.[18]NAACP chapter presidentReverend William Barber II applauded Newsome's action, comparing it to those ofRosa Parks and other icons of theCivil Rights Movement.[23] Colette Gaiter, an associate professor of art and social change at theUniversity of Delaware, whose writing was republished byTime magazine, called the act "a significant piece of socially engagedperformance art".[24] After her release, Newsome gave numerous magazine interviews and appeared on talk shows such asDemocracy Now! andThe Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore.[25][26] She also appears in the award-winning 2015 documentary,Bars4justice.[27]
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.[28] Calls for the flag's removal had been on the increase since the murder of nine people in theCharleston church shooting of June 17.[11]
Several days after her arrest, Newsome released a statement toBlue 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 ofSelma, the reenactment of the16th 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.[29]
A vote on the presence of the flag took place amongSouth Carolina's House of Representatives on July 9, which resulted in the final removal of the flag the following Friday.[30] The charges against Newsome and Tyson were later dropped.[31]
As a presidential candidate speaking at aMartin 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 theConfederacy, we had to choose. And South Carolina finally made the right choice."[32]
In February 2016, Newsome toldEbony magazine that she had been motivated in part by her ancestors having beenenslaved and subjected toracial terrorism in South Carolina.[33]
Newsome has continued to speak on race-related issues such asaffirmative action. She has given interviews to newspapers and magazines such asThe Crisis,Vox, andMarie Claire, made television appearances, and given public speeches at colleges and other venues.[34] Following the deadly attack during theUnite the Right rally inCharlottesville, Virginia, on August 17, 2017, Newsome'sop-ed piece and video commentary appeared inThe Washington Post.[35]
Beginning in 2017, Newsome has worked as an activist forhousing rights.[36]
In an October 13, 2021 podcast discussingColin Kaepernick's book,Abolition for the People: The Movement for a Future Without Policing and Prisons, Newsome argued alllaw enforcement, criminal justice andprisons should be completely abolished.[37]
Newsome expressed solidarity with Palestine during theIsraeli invasion of the Gaza Strip and describedJoe Biden as adictator.[38][39] Newsome defendedSaira Rao's argument thatZionist doctors and nurses pose a threat to Black and Muslim patients.[40]
