Fresh from her role in single-handedly getting the White House to suddenly find a way to extend the eviction moratorium, Missouri’s freshman Congresswoman Cori Bush shifted her attention to the pardon of Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the white St. Louis couple who waved firearms at Black Lives Matter protesters last summer from their front lawn, as they marched through the gated community toward a rally outside the home of Mayor Lyda Krewson.
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The couple, both lawyers, said they felt threatened by the marchers, and argued that they had trespassed on a private street and broken down a gate. The protesters, who were peaceful, said they didn’t realize the street was “private,” and the gate was already open. Bush was among the marchers that night. At the last Republican convention, Mark McCloskey referred to her as “the Marxist, liberal activist who led the mob through our neighborhood.”
Mark McCloskey displayed an AR-15 rifle and his wife displayed a semiautomatic handgun. Mark McCloskey pleaded guilty to misdemeanor fourth-degree assault and was fined $750, and Patricia McCloskey pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment and was fined $2,000 in June.
Missouri’s Republican Gov. Mike Parson made good on his promise and pardoned the McCloskeys on Tuesday, prompting a fed-up, fiery response from Rep. Bush during an interview on CNN.
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“It was absolutely unbelievable,” she said. “They pointed their guns totally recklessly to a group of non-violent protesters walking down a street that had no clue that they lived there. Didn’t care that they lived there, didn’t know them, and didn’t want to know them.”
“I will not stand by and allow [Mark McCloskey] or our governor to hurt the very people that are doing the work that they should be doing. There are other people, Gov. Parson that you should be looking at,” Bush said, referring to Ferguson protester Joshua Williams, who was sentenced to eight years in prison for staring a fire during the protests surrounding Michael Brown’s death.
“We have an activist that’s been sitting for such a long time. Do something. Actually, show up and be the governor of all the people of Missouri,” Bush said. “Not just those that follow your type of politics that actually hurt Black people, that actually hurt brown people, that actually hurt people who are our LGBTQ communities.”
Watch Rep. Bush’s entire interview below:
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