Bree Newsome: The woman who scaled the flag poll that held up the confederate flag in South Carolina.
Bree started off her speech talking about herself as a black women and the issues that surround her in today’s society. She pointed out that these issues we face today go way, way back to the time America began. However, this movement did not really begin until Trayvon Martin’s death in 2013.
Trayvon Martin’s death was “the gun shot heard across the world”, or in this case mainly the United States. Since then, there have been multiple murders very similar to Trayvon’s and what only made it worse was Zimmerman’s freedom at the end of his trial.
Fast forward to the church massacre in 2015. In the Charleston shooter’s manifesto, he claims that George Zimmerman was his inspiration for shooting nine black civilians.
What draws me so close to this story is that I spent my last semester of college attending the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Every Tuesday and Thursday, I walked by the church that those nine civilians were killed in. And everyday, people stood outside the church mourning the loss of those innocent people.
Newsome went on to talk about the history of the confederate flag, which stems back to the 1800’s when it was created during the civil war. As Newsome pointed out, the flag doesn’t just symbolize the past, but also the oppression and hatred that comes with it. Her whole goal of ripping that flag down was to rip oppression and hatred down with it.
I remember checking my email at work shortly after this event happened and my school sent out a statement regarding the issue with the flag. The summary is that College of Charleston does not support the confederate flag and will not rally against the state to keep it up. I agreed with my past school’s stance on this 100%.
Newsome talked about the symbolism that surrounded her the day she climbed the pole, but also the emotions that went into the whole action. Her partner on that day was a white man and ultimately her entire team was white. The symbolism of this is that this isn’t a one sided fight and having white people help her take down this flag was meant to send a strong message. When cops threatened to taze her, her white partner grabbed onto the pole and told the cops that he would also be tazed if she was.
The conversation then grew into a talk on the importance of media. With this particular issue, social media has been more reliable and a quicker source of reporting these issues than the news channel have. It is the way that most people heard about these shootings and where the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter was created.
She ended with the importance of self care and awareness. It is important for us to stand up for what we believe in, but we also need to take the proper measures to take care of ourselves.
She ended her talk with an open panel of questions. The questions she answered stemmed from how to take care of yourself, the lack of black representatives at the Oscars, minority groups clashing, helping the community, and much more.
I found Bree Newsome to be very down to earth, very realistic, and very empowering to all people. I think her impact on this campus, within the black community, and in the media will be absolutely huge. Because of what she did, she is inspiring people of all races to join this fight.