TO DEFY WHITE SUPREMACY IS TO CRUSH THEIR SYMBOLS BY TAKIYAH THOMPSON

This Woman Is A Leader

Remember Her Name

TAKIYAH THOMPSON

In her own words

FROM DEMOCRACY NOW

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

"JUAN GONZÁLEZ: We begin today’s show in Durham, North Carolina, where a crowd of activists toppled a Confederate statue in Durham on Monday, just two days after the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The crowd of activists shouted "We are the revolution," as a college student named Takiyah Thompson climbed up a ladder, looped [a rope] around the top of the Confederate Soldiers Monument in front of the old Durham County Courthouse and then pulled the statue to the ground as the crowd erupted in cheers.

PROTESTERS: We are the revolution! No cops, no KKK, no fascist U.S.A.! No cops, no KKK, no fascist U.S.A.!

AMY GOODMAN: On Tuesday, Takiyah Thompson was arrested on two charges of felony inciting a riot and three misdemeanor charges—injury to personal property, injury to real property and defacing a statue. She spoke in Durham just before she was arrested.

TAKIYAH THOMPSON:  

I think what we did was the best way, and not just the best way, but the only way, because the state and the Klan and white supremacists have been collaborating. Right? So what we did, not only was it right, it was just. I did the right thing. Everyone who was there, the people did the right thing. And the people will continue to keep making the right choices until every Confederate statue is gone, until white supremacy is gone. 

That statute is where it belongs, right? It needs to be in the garbage, incinerated, like every statue—every Confederate statue and every vestige of white supremacy has to go.

AMY GOODMAN: Takiyah Thompson, speaking in Durham, North Carolina. Shortly after she spoke, she was arrested, given a $10,000 unsecured bond. She was released last night, heads to court this morning. But just before she does, she joins us here on Democracy Now! Takiyah Thompson is a student at North Carolina Central University and a member of Workers World Party, Durham branch.

Welcome to Democracy Now!, Takiyah. I know you’re under enormous pressure as you head to court for—after being arrested for climbing a ladder, looping a rope around the top of the Confederate Soldiers Monument and pulling down the statue. Talk about why you engaged in this, and exactly what you did.

TAKIYAH THOMPSON: 

 OK. I participated in a march and a rally. And I decided to climb to the top of the Confederate soldiers statue and put the rope around its neck and throw the rope down to the crowd. And the crowd could decide if they wanted to pull it down or not. And I did this because the statue is a symbol of nationalism, and it’s a symbol of white nationalism.

And the type of white nationalism I’m talking about is the type of white nationalism that is sending me death threats on Facebook. 

I’m talking about the type of white nationalist that, you know, has killed a woman in a protest. 

We’re talking about the type of white nationalism that would drive a car at high speeds into a crowd of women and children. 

And I think vestiges of that, and I think anything that emboldens those people and anything that gives those people pride, needs to be crushed in the same way that they want to crush black people and the other groups that they target.

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