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| Susan Yarbrough (left), Brandon Lashbrook (right) |
On Saturday, April 25th, the Aryan Nations and other white supremacists gathered on the steps of the old courthouse in St.Louis, MO to call for the release of Gary Yarbrough. Yarbrough was a member of the Order who was sentenced to 60 years in prison in 1986 for racketeering and weapons charges. Not only was Gary's wife Susan in attendance but there were also some white supremacists out of Illinois. There were some newer names such as Kris Evans (Lincoln, IL) and Mari Cassidy (East Peoria), as well as some some familiar faces like Jeffrey Stuart AKA "Thomas Stuart" , Art Jones, and our favorite national anarchist karate master, Brandon Lashbrook, of the failed 2014 White Man March.
Taken from CBSlocal:
ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – It was whites rallying against whites on the topic of racism and race relations.
The Aryan Nation World Headquarters reserved a spot on the steps of the old courthouse in St. Louis on Saturday, to call for the release of Idaho man Gary Yarbrough from prison after thirty years. St. Louis was one of several rally locations picked in the U.S. and two other countries
“Gary Yarbrough matters. The white race matters,” the leader of the group shouted back to those on the sidewalk shouting “Black Lives Matter.” Several of the speaker’s followers yelled mentions of the Michael Brown incident in Ferguson.
Anti-Racist Collective member Emily Bland knew about the planned rally and got a group of about 75 to stage a counter-demonstration, “Racist hate speech is really just the tip of the iceberg. It goes a lot deeper. As white people, it is our duty to stand up for what’s right and to educate other white folks on how racism affects people of color, and to affirm that black lives matter.”
Originally planning to stand silent in the face of the demonstrators on the courthouse steps, Bland grabbed her megaphone and said to them, “Racism steals your humanity just as much as it steals the humanity of black and brown folks.”
Bland’s group had occupied the courthouse steps for about an hour prior to the Aryan Nation group’s arrival.
As a steady rain fell, metal barricades kept the two groups apart and dozens of police were on standby in the area.
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