‘We want an end to the hate,’ Charlotte activist Bree Newsome says on ‘Good Morning America’

Charlotte activist Bree Newsome said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Thursday morning that she accomplished what she set out to do when she removed a Confederate battle flag from a Columbia flagpole Saturday: Inspire others to help end racism and the hatred it breeds.

“A lot of people have been inspired by that moment,” Newsome said.

“I just felt very strongly that we needed that moment, for the people to say enough is enough, we want an end to the hate,” Newsome said.

“How much longer do we want to go forward like this?” she asked. “Isn’t it time to reconcile ourselves with the past and move forward into a better future where everyone has equal rights?”

Newsome appeared on the show with another Charlotte activist, James Ian Tyson, although he did not speak on the air. The duo has not yet agreed to an Observer interview request.

Newsome said on Twitter Thursday morning that she and Tyson also will appear on the CBS Evening News Thursday evening.

Both were arrested by the S.C. Bureau of Protective Services about 6:15 a.m. Saturday, after Newsome climbed the pole to remove the flag. Tyson stood at the base of the pole.

They were charged with defacing state property, a misdemeanor that carries penalties of up to three years in prison or a fine of up to $5,000 or both. Both were released on $3,000 bond, with a trial date set for July 27.

State employees quickly returned the flag to its post, but images of Newsome removing the flag spread nationwide.

In a statement after her arrest, Newsome, 30, said she removed the flag “in defiance of those who enslaved my ancestors” and over “oppression that continues against black people globally.”

She said the deaths of nine people in a shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston on June 17 “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.”

Her statement said she gathered with a small group of concerned residents, “both black and white who represented various walks of life, spiritual beliefs, gender identities and sexual orientations.”

The group decided to remove the flag immediately, Newsome’s statement said, “both as an act of civil disobedience and as a demonstration of the power people have when we work together.”

The group, she said, decided that a black woman should remove the flag and that a white man should be the one to help her over the fence “as a sign that our alliance transcended both racial and gender divides.”

“We made this decision because for us, this is not simply about a flag, but rather it is about abolishing the spirit of hatred and oppression in all its forms,” Newsome said in her statement.

This story was originally published July 2, 2015 at 7:49 AM with the headline "‘We want an end to the hate,’ Charlotte activist Bree Newsome says on ‘Good Morning America’."