GREENSBORO, N.C. — Led away in handcuffs, four NAACP members were arrested Saturday near a confederate monument in Alamance County.
A video shows Alamance branch NAACP President Barrett Brown holding a Black Lives Matter sign on the platform of the confederate statue for about 20 seconds before being arrested.
A group of some NAACP members and others in the community chanted “We See you Barrett” during his arrest in support of Brown's actions.
Court documents show he was arrested on charges of impeding traffic and resisting arrest.
Both of which Brown said he did not do.
He spoke with WFMY right after his release.
“I wasn't resisting the officer and I wasn't impeding traffic,” Brown said. “I still feel like the power structures in Graham are obsessed with protecting that monument.”
Let's take a step back and break down what led to Brown's arrest.
Brown said he went downtown Graham with no intention to protest but to gather at Sesquicentennial Park with other NAACP members for an outdoor meeting.
He realized the flag outside the courthouse was at half staff in honor of John Lewis, but felt the flags placement behind a confederate monument was disrespectful to Lewis’s memory.
RELATED: Alamance County leaders call on commissioners, Graham city council to relocate confederate statue
"I think that monument right in front of a flag lowered to half staff because of John Lewis was the height of disrespect,” Brown said. “I went and grabbed a black lives matter sign and went and stood in front of the monument.”
Brown said less than a minute later officers approached him.
“He told me they were trying to keep people from defacing the monument. I told him I wasn't defacing it. He said I was standing in the street. I told him I wasn’t stand in the street,” Brown said. “He said are you trying to get arrested I said no I'm trying to exercise my first amendment right to protest this monument.”
Brown said at first he questioned his actions.
“I thought am I doing the right thing,” Brown said. "Have I acted hastily but then I felt part of a bigger movement.”
Brown said the monument is a risk to public safety, and he'll continue to fight for it to come down.
“It seems property is more important to them than the safety of human life and the will of the people that the statue insults every day by standing there,” Brown said
He plans to meet with lawyers to determine how to best move forward.
We're still waiting to hear back from Alamance police, but we did confirm the arrest through folks at the courthouse.
Three other NAACP members were arrested with Brown Saturday.
All were charged with impeding traffic and resisting arrest.
Brown said officers were both respectful and helpful after their arrest.
They'll all face a judge in August.
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