Watch this American hero leap over a police barricade to take down a Confederate flag

By Isha Aran  |  February 23, 2017 | 2:13pm
Latest

Back in 2015, filmmaker and activist Bree Newsome made headlines when, days after the Charleston church massacre, she scaled a 30-foot flagpole to remove the Confederate flag which flew at the South Carolina State House. She did it because it is insane that a government building would proudly fly one of the most overt symbols of black oppression. The flag was re-raised within an hour of Newsome being arrested, but weeks later South Carolina’s House of Representatives voted to permanently remove the flag.

Her actions were inspiring to all, including Muhiyidin Elamin Moye, a Black Lives Matter Charleston leader who goes by Muhiyidin d’Baha. He has now become immortalized as the badass dude who leaped through police tape to grab a Confederate flag out of a man protesting Bree Newsome last night.

See, Bree Newsome was invited by the College of Charleston to deliver a lecture called “Tearing Hatred From the Sky.” As you would imagine, her visit did not go unnoticed. A group called the South Carolina Secessionist Party and another group called the Confederate Flaggers started displaying Confederate flags to protest Newsome on various buildings around Charleston. In response, counter-protesters showed up to support Newsome and, judging by the now-iconic video of d’Baha, to continue her mission of taking down the Confederate flag.

D’Baha didn’t make it far with the flag (though the pole did break), and he was subsequently arrested and charged with disorderly conduct by Charleston police. The Charleston chapter of Showing Up For Racial Justice (or SURJ) has started collecting donations for d’Baha’s bail money.

 
Join the discussion...