‘St. Louis Has Really Stepped Up The Protests’ Says White BLM Demonstrator

The picture of a white couple in St. Louis standing outside their mansion holding guns as protestors marched by is one of the most viewed images from the summer’s racial justice protests triggered by the murder of George Floyd by a former police officer in late May. Mark and Patricia McCloskey, both attorneys, are facing a felony charge of unlawful use of a weapon.

“We were in that group,” said Kevin Pumm, an attorney (legal counsel for TheVillageCelebration)and Black Lives Matter protestor. He and his wife, Lynn DeLearie, were among those heading to Mayor Lyda Krewson’s home located on the same street as the McCloskeys. Krewson had come under fire for releasing the names and addresses of protestors calling for police reform.

Pumm recalled that some of the protestors saw the gate unlocked and began to file into the neighborhood. 

“After about 75 people went through, that’s when the woman came out with a handgun,” Pumm said.  “She was followed by her husband with an assault rifle. Leaders told others to keep going…and, marchers just continued on to Lyda Krewson’s house with no incident.”

Mark and Patricia McCloskey, both attorneys, symbolize the ambiguity many Americans feel about the sustained and persistent call for a rewriting of the rules that have governed America’s race relations for hundreds of years. For the nation’s conservatives, they represent the right to protect themselves. President Donald Trump supported them and they appeared virtually at a campaign event for him.

“I believe the President is inciting the Second Amendment, authorizing Americans to use weapons under the guise of protecting property,” Pumm noted.

Missouri’s Republican Governor, Mike Parson, has said he is prepared to pardon the McCloskeys. And U.S. Senator Josh Hawley called for a federal civil rights investigation into St. Louis prosecutor, Kim Gardner. 

Gardner stated, “We must protect the right to peacefully protest, and any attempt to chill it through intimidation will not be tolerated…I am open to recommending the McCloskeys participate in one of my office’s diversion programs that are designed to reduce unnecssary involvement with the courts.”

As he watched the events unfold, Pumm pulled out his camera and hit record.

“They were the only residents on Portland Place who came out to confront the protestors,” Pumm explained. “What was going through our mind was the McCloskeys were going to escalate this and start firing randomly.”

Pumm, who is white, is no stranger to social justice protests. He is also a trained ACLU-observer which means he calls the officer at a protest by name and patrol car, suggesting an investigation will follow if conduct is inappropriate. And, as committed as he is to social justice organizations like ‘Expect Us’ and ‘Black Lives Matter,’ his wife became involved first.

“After Michael Brown, we went to a vigil,” he said. “She was already working for a lot of city schools and much more involved in trying to help city city children. She has done a women’s march. The, we also went to a protest against the travel ban. We didn’t actively begin protesting until the Stokely murder. And, that’s when she was arrested in 2018.”

Taking a stand has cost them some friends.

“I think we were on a path to losing friends before this,” he admitted. “2016 led to us becoming more distand from friends who may have been Republicans. We were constantly hearing from former friends, “All Lives Matter.”

Pumm’s response has become, “All Lives don’t Matter until Black Lives Matter.”

Image Credits: Riverfront Times.