GRAHAM Four people, including Alamance NAACP President Barrett Brown, were arrested Saturday morning at an NAACP speakers meeting.

Brown and Noah Read, who has been active in the NAACP and is a member of the county Board of Elections, were arrested along with NAACP members Amie "Trina" Harrison and the Rev. Walter Allison, according to police records. They were charged with misdemeanor resisting a public officer and impeding traffic, and released on written promises to appear in court, according to jail records.

The four were standing inside barricades around the Confederate monument in Court Square. They were there as part of Alamance NAACPs Call to Action speaker meeting Saturday morning at Sesquicentennial Park, across the street.

A series of speakers talked about removal of the monument, police reform and voting, while attendees held signs calling for equity. Brown was on the speakers list circulated before the event.

Ian Baltutis, mayor of Burlington, read from the open letter signed by a number of Alamance County government, business, education and healthcare leaders advocating removal of the monument.

"While this artifact is undeniably part of our history, for many in our community, it represents an ideology incompatible with equality," Baltutis read.

The letter originally had 50 signatures, but Baltutis said more than 300 people have signed it now.

Next, Mebane City Council member Sean Ewing spoke about removing the monument from his perspective as a veteran.

He said how being in the military required him to trust those serving with him and created a sense of unity. He called for that same unity now and for people to stand together and remove the monument. He emphasized that the NAACPs position is against violence, and that the call is for peaceful removal of the monument.

The arrests

During Ewings speech, arrests began of those standing next to the monument on the other side of the street, and the crowd shouted support for them.

Brown said later that he was the first to cross over to the monument. It wasnt planned, but he did it after seeing the flag at half staff for Congressman John Lewis, who died recently and was a leader during the Civil Rights Movement.

"It just struck me that it was so disrespectful to have this flag lowered at half staff for John Lewis right behind a monument memorializing the Confederacy and the Confederate creation and intentions to preserve slavery," Brown told the Times-News.

Brown said he was standing there peacefully, holding a sign to protest the monument. He was asked to move, but said he had a right to be there.

Brown said he was given multiple reasons for why he couldnt stand there, including that the courthouse was closed, and that he was obstructing traffic, although he was inside the barriers in front of the monument and on the curb.

The Sheriffs Office could not be reached for comment about why the protesters were not allowed to stand in front of the monument.

Deputies put Brown in a van to take him to the county jail, but Brown said as soon as they left, the deputies received a call to turn around and pick up more people. He was shocked, he said, that other people had followed him to that side of the street and also had been arrested.

Brown, Read and Allison all rode together, singing "We Shall Overcome" on the way to the jail, Brown said.

Read sent a statement to the Times-News calling for the removal of the Confederate monument and reiterating that it is a monument to an "exploitative power structure" in government and other institutions.

"There is no greater symbol of mans inhumanity to humankind in this county, and the elected leaders of this county and their supporters have allowed it to remain for decades at the most conspicuous spot in our shared civic landscape," he wrote. "The wisdom of its removal should be unquestioned, but here we are. Take it down."

The speeches

After Ewing finished speaking, the Rev. Jay Kennett of Down Home N.C. and pastor of Hillsborough United Church of Christ spoke about justice from a Christian perspective.

"I follow a radical revolutionary rabbi named Jesus, whose political platform is justice and mercy, he said, quoting Rev. Tracy Blackman of the United Church of Christ.

Kennett spoke about how Jesus stood up for those who were oppressed, and dismantled symbols and systems of oppression. Kennett called for all, no matter their religion, to follow Jesus example and to fight not only for justice but also to build up a community focused on inclusion and love.

After Kennetts speech, Pam Scwingl of the Friends Committee on North Carolina Legislation, a Quaker organization, spoke about police violence.

She spoke about the Quaker beliefs rooted in nonviolence, and urged attendees to advocate regarding militarization of police and school resource officers role in the school-to-prison pipeline.

After her speech, the Rev. Kendall McBroom represented Alamance Agents for Change in calling for police reform.

His demands included sensitivity training for all members of law enforcement, enacting the open records act which would make police misconduct records public removing officers for discriminatory behavior, and banning no-knock warrants.

Juan Miranda of Siembra, a Latinx advocacy organization, next spoke about issues related to immigration and the intersection of immigration reform and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Last, Dorothy Yarborough, who serves on the Board of Elections, spoke about the importance of voting.

"A change is going to come," she said, "but its going to take all of us to make that change happen. If we dont vote, everything that we are doing now is for naught."

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Four arrested at NAACP event Saturday in Alamance County - Burlington Times News