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Who is Bree Newsome? Activist filmmaker trolled for saying 'do not need police' when teens fight with knives

Newsome tweeted: 'Teenagers have been having fights including fights involving knives for eons. We do not need police to address these...,' referring to the Ma'Khia Bryant shooting incident

Anti-police activist Bree Newsome has faced huge backlash online after saying police are not required to interfere when teens fight using knives. The filmmaker’s tweet was in response to Ma’Khia Bryant’s death, who was allegedly shot dead by police on April 20. Reportedly, the 16-year-old was about to stab another girl while holding a knife when cops arrived to stop the attack.

Newsome tweeted, “Teenagers have been having fights including fights involving knives for eons. We do not need police to address these situations by showing up to the scene & using a weapon against one of the teenagers. Y’all need help. I mean that sincerely.” In a later tweet, she wrote, “Everyone should be frightened that the ruling white elite have done such a thoroughly successful job of not only disconnecting us from the means of basic self-sufficiency but also convincing us we need armed white officers to manage our children & communities. Frightening.”

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But her statements did not go down well with people on the Internet. One user wrote, “I'm sorry but in what world is it normal for teenagers to be having knife fights on the regular? Fights, sure, I get that. You're young, emotional, and hotheaded. Pulling a knife? Two people fighting with knives? That's kind of serious right there.” Another user tweeted, “I usually agree with you, but this post is really inhumane. The girl in pink matters. She has a name. So when Ma'khia forced the cop to either step in or let the girl in pink die, it's not fair to the girl in pink for you to say her life doesn't deserve protection.”

“I once represented a teenager who got into a knife fight with another teen. My client only had a pocket knife. He only jabbed *one* time, and made an approximately 1 inch puncture wound on the other teen’s thigh. He’s serving 35 years for murder. He cut the kid’s femoral artery,” a person noted. “We usually like your takes. Not this time. That girl had a big knife and was about to use it forcefully. Sad situation all around. But the cop (this time!) made a snap decision that saved the girl in pink,” the second one said.

“‘People have been murdering other people for hundreds of years. We don’t need the police to intervene or interfere in a long standing tradition we have had in our society.’ You are an extremist,” a comment read on Newsome’s tweet and the other one stated, “When I was in middle school in one of the local high schools there was a knife fight that ended with a student being stabbed to death by another student. Is that the result you are looking for?”

Who is Bree Newsome?

Bree Newsome, whose full name is Brittany Ann Byuarim 'Bree' Newsome Bass, is a filmmaker, musician, speaker, and activist. The 35-year-old is from Charlotte, North Carolina, who did her graduation from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She has a BFA degree in film and television.

In June 2015, Newsome climbed a thirty-foot pole to remove the Confederate flag from outside the State House in Columbia, South Carolina. At the time, she said, “I removed the flag not only in defiance of those who enslaved my ancestors in the southern United States, but also in defiance of the oppression that continues against black people globally. I did it for all the fierce black women on the front lines of the movement and for all the little black girls who are watching us. I did it because I am free.”

Her action was caught on camera. Newsome also praised and thanked Todd Zimmer, a fellow organizer, for visualizing the video that had a powerful impact. A year later, she told ELLE magazine why the video was important. “It mattered that scaling the flagpole was difficult. The physical battle to climb up there and get that flag was like the struggle to dismantle systemic racism. Nothing about it is easy,” she added.