Bree Newsome at A-B Tech in Asheville, Sept 29th
The lovely, inspiring, brilliant, courageous Bree Newsome graced Asheville, NC with her presence Friday, Sept 29th and Saturday September 30th. Wow, this woman is extraordinary. Lovely of countenance, brimming with spirit, humanity, intelligence, humility, moral courage.
The occasion was the unveiling of her portrait by artist Robert Shetterly who has done 230 portraits in his Americans Who Tell the Truth (AWTT) series that features “models of courageous citizenship”. Bree is a natural fit for this series whose purpose is to “highlight citizens who courageously address issues of social, environmental, and economic fairness. By combining art and other media, AWTT offers resources to inspire a new generation of engaged Americans who will act for the common good, our communities, and the Earth.”
Her mother, father, grandmother, boyfriend and brother were also there for the unveiling of the portrait. After meeting and speaking to her father and grandmother, it was clear how Bree’s activism had come to be — they are very accomplished in their own right.
In case you have been in deep freeze the past two years. Brittany “Bree” Newsome’s was arrested in June 2015 for taking down the confederate flag near the South Carolina Statehouse.
This organized civil disobedience came just more than a week after a white man gunned down nine worshipers at a historic black church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina.
“The massacre that happened was an attack on so many levels,” said Newsome, who told the crowd her actions were driven by the Holy Spirit. “It was clearly an attack on black people. It was an attack on the black church as a traditional place for organization and a force in the movement for liberation. It was also a spiritual attack.”
“I could feel it in my heart. I was like, ‘OK Lord, I’m supposed to climb this pole.’”
Regarding those numbers “7-0-5-3” that were taped to the front of her shirt last night while she spoke to Robert Shetterly:
"That is the number Rosa Parks was assigned when she was arrested in Alabama for refusing to give up her seat to a white man," Newsome said to cheers. "In honor of all those people who were arrested like her, the Apostles, Gandhi, MLK, I wear these numbers for them."
Bree is very cognizant of those whose shoulders she stands on and of the next generation that must be educated, inspired and encouraged to be active citizens. She was scheduled to speak to an Ashevile Middle School class but was disinvited at the last minute, apparently because she had been arrested (what?!). This caused quite a stir in progressive Asheville. Before it could get too blown up a horrible tragedy struck (one of the Asheville Middle School teacher’s lost two young sons in a car wreck) and Bree’s talk was shifted to a local community college.
A couple hundred people — young, old, black, white — showed up to listen to and ask Bree questions. The focus of the event was on encouraging the education of citizenship of our children so they got to ask most of the questions. At today’s event of the unveiling of her portrait middle school students were also featured. And the torch hopefully passes to the next generation. Bree made the point that she believes we are in the 3rd Reconstruction era, and each generation has to remain vigilant to hold onto any gains.
Thanks go to Asheville social justice educator Ellie Richard for working so hard to make this event happen, and workng so diligently for the development of our next generation of activists. If you live in the area, make sure to take some time to visit the exhibit --you’ll be glad you did. The exhibit will remain on view at the YMI Center, 39 S. Market Street, in downtown Asheville through November 7, before traveling to The International Civil Rights Center & Museum and Guilford College in Greensboro. A permanent collection of some of the portraits will be housed by Asheville-Buncombe Community College.
