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reader. Visit Christmas Gift buying guide.com to browse our books. This is Pass the Mic. Hi, this is Dumart Tisby, President of the Witness, a Black Christian collective and co-host of the podcast,

Pass the Mic.

One of the reasons we were so excited to come to Memphis for the MLK50 events

hosted by the National Civil Rights Museum was the prospect of interviewing

current activists and so our guest on this podcast needs almost no introduction.

Most of us were introduced to Bree Newsom during that iconic moment when she climbed a flagpole

in South Carolina in front of the state house and literally ripped down the Confederate flag in the wake of the

Emmanuel nine events. And so we get to talk to Breen Newsom, who graciously lent us her time. She talks about how her faith motivates her activism. She talks

about the civil rights movement then and now and make some helpful comparisons.

She also gives us some insight into how she does grassroots organizing and activism

so we just loved having this conversation with Brie Newsom and we're sure you're going to enjoy it as well.

As we stand here on the 50th anniversary of MLK's assassination, literally in Memphis, blocks

away from the Lorraine Motel where he was killed.

It's interesting that this occasion is as much about the present as it is about the past.

And so I'm wondering as an activist, how has Dr King's life and legacy impacted the work you do now.

Absolutely, I think that part of, or really why this moment is as much about the present

as it is about the past is because it's really a marker for judging how much progress or lack thereof, right?

We have made in the past 50 years. So you know back in January we were celebrating Martin Luther King day obviously that's something that we mark every year every January you know we mark the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr it's not every year that we pause to really reflect upon the you know the time in which he was assassinated.

And that is so important because so many of the things that he was speaking to

in the latter part of his life, we are dealing with today.

...