Woman Scales State House Flagpole, Removes Confederate Flag

By Cynthia Roldan, The Post and Courier

27 June 15

Charlotte woman successfully shimmied the flagpole of the Statehouse’s Confederate Soldier Monument and took down its Confederate flag.

Bree Newsome, 30, dressed in climbing gear and helmet, removed the flag just after 6 a.m., about four hours before a pro-Confederate flag rally was set to take place at the monument.

Newsome and James Ian Tyson, 30, also of Charlotte, were taken into custody by Department of Public Safety officers as soon as Newsome touched ground. The two were later charged with defacing a monument. Tyson was inside the wrought-iron fence surrounding the 30-foot pole helping Newsome climb.

The flag was down for about an hour before it was replaced with a new one, said DPS spokeswoman Sherri Iacobelli.

The group that helped organize the climb said in a release that it was an effort “to do what the SC legislature has thus far neglected to do.”

“We removed the flag today because we can’t wait any longer,” Newsome said in the statement. “We can’t continue like this another day. It’s time for a new chapter where we are sincere about dismantling white supremacy and building toward true racial justice and equality.”

Since the mass killing of nine churchgoers in Charleston, the state has been under fire for flying the Confederate battle flag on Statehouse grounds. On Tuesday, lawmakers voted to allow discussion of removing the flag during a special session, although it is unlikely that will occur before July 6.

Confederate flag supporters said they hope Newsome is punished to the fullest extent of the law.

“We consider this flag as a flag of heritage not hate,” 75-year-old Greenville resident Leland Browder said. “I don’t hate anybody. We feel like it’s a part of our history. It’s a part of the South.”

About 60 people attended the pro-flag rally at the base of the monument.

Ryan Hughes, a 22-year-old from North Augusta, said the nation is headed toward socialism as Confederate flags across the country continue to be lowered. He also said state lawmakers and Gov. Nikki Haley are pandering to the federal government in their calls for the removal of the battle flag.

“There are only a few local hard-core people who are going to stand up and defend the Southern heritage,” said Hughes, adding that rest of the country bullies the South. “Just people from the South, in general; we are the most oppressed group in America today. It needs to change.”

House Minority Leader Rep. Todd Rutherford, D-Columbia, said Saturday afternoon he will be representing Newsome. Rutherford, a criminal defense attorney, has led the call for the removal of the battle flag in the past week, and has unsuccessfully tried to get legislation through the General Assembly that would have removed the flag in the past.

Newsome and Tyson were being held at the Richland County Jail.