In ‘Red Brick Blue Tarp,’ relationships are a force for recovery after St. Louis’ tornado

Support comes from Mosby Building Arts. Sometimes the smaller home projects make the biggest difference. Mosby creates custom spaces that help you love your home even more. For projects big and small, visit callmosby.com. This is St. Louis on the air from St. Louis Public Radio. I'm Elaine Cha. What holds us to a place involves many factors. Sometimes it's family history. In other cases, its work or life circumstances related to personal relationships. And when major crisis level events like the EF3 tornado that toured through parts of St. Louis in May 2025 occur, they can change our relationship to place. They can also transform our relationships with other people and commitments to one another. The short documentary film, Red Brick Blue Tarp, captures that dynamic through a combination of visual poetry and first-person interviews, filmmaker and native St. Louis and Cammy Thomas explores the impact of last year's tornado, especially on people on the city's north side, which has endured decades of disinvestment even before the historic May 16th storm. On Friday, August 21st, St. Louis Public Radio will host a free screening of red brick blue tarp in the public media commons. The program is free and open to all ages and will include a conversation in Q&A with Cammy Thomas. Here to discuss the relationships at the heart of her film, we have Cammy in studio with us today. Cammy, it's great to have you back on the show. Great to be back. We also have two other guests for this conversation. Jessica Wernley, producer of Red Brick Blue Tarp and Longtime Community Organizer. Jessica, good to see you. Yes, good to see you. And last but not least, we have Stephanie Reynolds. Stephanie is the co-founder of 314 Oasis, a community care organization created in the immediate aftermath of last year's May 16th tornado. Stephanie, welcome to the program. Thank you so much. Starting with relationships, we'll begin with each of you and your relationship to St. Louis. Now, one of the things I noticed in preparing for you all to come in is that each of you has a different area code. So how does that reflect your relationship or connection to St. Louis or the St. Louis area? Camie. Absolutely. So I was born and raised in St. Louis in North County, and both sets of grandparents lived in North City, St. Louis. And as far back as the records go, I mean, we've been here in this city. So, you know, at least on my mom's mom's side, we go back five generations of North City, St. Louis, specifically. So though I've moved around and went to college elsewhere and have bounced around quite a bit, I very much consider St. Louis to be my home and where I'm rooted.

So why did you change your area code? Oh, my cell phone? Yeah, yeah. I worked for Red Bull North America, which has a headquarters based in Santa Monica. So that was just my company phone and I just happened to keep it. But I'm 314 down. Okay. And. How about you, Jessica? What is your relationship with St. Louis? Yeah, so Area Code 312. I'm originally from Chicago area and moved to St. Louis in 2011 for a community organizing position. I worked for United Congregations of Metro East, actually over on the east side, so 618 side. And Stephanie, you're the most recent transplant here. Tell us about what brought you here. Well, I spent most of my life in the Northeast and New England, and I moved here in 2023 with my partner who does community work here in community health work here in the city. Was there anything in particular you were expecting when you came to St. Louis? I think I was... No, but I can tell you that I have found community here in St. Louis in a way that I had been very unexpected for me. How has that occurred? So, for instance, each of you, how did you meet one another? So let's start with maybe it's Cammy and Jessica first. Is that sort of the order of operations? I think that it is. Yeah. Yeah. Man, Jessica, do you want to go? I know we met, I know the year that we met, but I don't remember the exact moment, actually. Well, it was through the project, right? Yes. Absolutely. So. There was a group of filmmakers who each created a project related to the Ferguson Uprising for the 10-year anniversary, and this was through Cinema St. Louis, and Emmett from Cinema St. Louis brought me in as a facilitator, right? So I'm a facilitator, I'm an organizer, and he said, well, we could really use that type of support with these films. So he brought me in to support these filmmakers, and Cammy was one of the filmmakers. So I got to... work with her really closely through that project, through her project, Ferdinand's Guide to Grief. And there will be a screening of that actually tomorrow, right? Absolutely. Yep, we're having one of the History Museum tomorrow. You're very busy these days. So that actually brings up another event that could be considered a crisis. On August 9th, 2014, we just... past August 9th, the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown Jr. by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson was a crisis point. How did, for each of you, that event and the Ferguson uprising, change your relationship status, as it were, to St. Louis and being or staying here. Kemi, let's start with you. For sure.

Man, yeah, August 9th, 2014 is embedded in my memory and into my entire body in a way that I didn't know any particular day could be. You know, being from North County, we were pretty used to, you know, the relationship with police and community being fraught. But that was a day, you know, that things just boiled over, rightfully so, in my opinion, you know, being there, seeing the blood on the street, being with community and really feeling how fed up everyone was. You know, going from there, you know, whatever happens tomorrow can't be the same. We can't let this go on. Changed my life forever, and it changed St. Louis's life. It makes it so that I don't think I would be a filmmaker, you know, without that event having occurred. So, you know, I see my life as before that day and after. Stephanie, when you talked about your partner having come here, there is a connection also to the Ferguson uprising and some of the demands that came out of that, right? Yeah, yeah. So my husband moved to St. Louis post-Fergus, moved to Ferguson, post-Fergus, and was very moved to be involved in the community work that was happening. He was working in the hospital system. but was found really the work of his life outside of the hospital system in the community that had grown out of Ferguson. So yeah, I didn't live here then, but I definitely feel connected directly to... what happened through both through my partnership but also the work we're doing and then certainly around what happened with the tornado and seeing the the way that the community the pieces that came together and were formed in the wake of Michael Brown's murder were ones that were react sort of given new life in the aftermath of the tornado. So those were the folks that showed up and I realized I was standing in this community that had been born of the uprising in Ferguson. These events occurred within an 11-year span. So, Jessica, for you, you said that you grew up in the Chicago area. You'd come to the St. Louis region in 2011. I mean, what was it about the tornado and what was happening there that sort of cemented for you, that this is where you need to be? Well, really, the cementing. happened during that, you know, the Ferguson uprising. And I had been here for a few years at that point. And my intention in coming here was actually not to stay. I didn't know much about St. Louis. And I was like, I'll end up back in Chicago, maybe D.C. But I had started to deepen some of my relationships, both personally and professionally during that time.

And then after the, during the Ferguson uprising, it just clicked for me. You know, there's some really important work that's about to take place that is going to take some time, like some long-term work is going to, is kicking off right now. And I want to be here for that. I want to be a part of that. I want to talk about the film because each of you is in the film. You're behind the camera, but also in front of it. In the film, Stephanie, something that you said really stood out to me, and it was that you did not consider yourself to be a particularly political person before the May 16th tornado. Why did that change? And what did it mean to participate in this film in front of the camera? I think prior to the storm, maybe I had the privilege of not having to be. a very political person. But my proximity to the suffering that I witnessed and chose to show up to, and try my best to be relevant to, made it so I couldn't close my eyes and I couldn't look away. And there's been a huge, just... gap, the way that our systems have not shown up and the way our systems have failed the people and continue to fail the people, I couldn't be silent in that anymore. And so I'm very grateful to the film, to Cammy, for documenting this because it needs to be told. This film, Cammy, it blends art and documentary. And on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Ferguson uprising, you know, Jessica, you'd mentioned how you and Cammy met. You made Ferdinand's Guide to Grief that leans fully into art. You also made a documentary called Every Bullet Leaves a Mark. And that was about the bullet-related injury clinic. That's a clinic that was a community clinic. based in St. Louis, to help people heal after they're injured by a bullet. What made combining art and documentary in the way that you did the right thing for red brick blue tarp? Absolutely. Honestly, I don't know if I made it thinking it was the right way to do it. I think it's the only way I know how to make a film. There are so many stories that could be told, and I didn't want to get lost in just the data or the bullet points or trying to cover every bit of context necessary to actually explain to others what happened and why it happened that way after the tornado.

But to get to the soul of the story and the soul of the experience and really document the details that are often lost to history, which I think are the emotional details. You know, I wanted to blend poetry, interstitials that are just kind of B-roll or conversations with my dad, who I go to, you know, for advice when I'm most stressed, blending those in and weeping them through. just felt like the way that I could tell the story that was on my heart best. And I think it ended up being the best way to tell the story. But honestly, in creating it, I just wanted to make something that helped me even transmute some of what was inside and the stress of that year before and, you know, really kind of place that in the film in a way that felt authentic to the experience in my shoes. We're going to take a very quick break here, but we'll be back shortly to continue this conversation about the short documentary film Red Brick Blue Tarp. This is St. Louis on the air on St. Louis Public Radio.

Support comes from Gemma, architects, planners and designers, seeking to bring joy to their clients and communities. The tales at J-E-M-A-S-T-L.com. Welcome back. Let's return to our conversation about red, brick, blue tarp, a short documentary film by Cammy Thomas that explores the impact of the May 16th 2025 tornado. We're talking with Thomas as well as two others who've been integral to the film's creation, Jessica Wernley, producer and community organizer, and Stephanie Reynolds, 314 Oasis co-founder. This film poses a number of questions, and one that comes up about a third of the way through is, how old were you when? Let's hear some of that part of the film. How old were you when you when you realized that you were from the city that the world has always known without being able to put a name to us? that your voice has always been the quiet hum, that your pulse has pumped life into the broken heart of America. When did you realize that this city will always, and has always, made you become exactly who you were always meant to be? How old were you? When you realize that you, me, and we are the helpers and the heroes that we've been waiting for. And that is an excerpt from the documentary Red Brick Blue Tarp. You know, listening to that, Jessica, what went through your mind? Like, what stood out? I just love that piece so much. I even almost just teared up. I've heard it a million times. Me too. What stood out to me. I just think... You know, with the words, even hearing it without the imagery, like the imagery comes to mind, right? Like your own imagery of just the beauty of the city, the beauty of the community, and just the power that we have here. So, yeah, even without seeing that imagery in front of you, it just kind of naturally evokes that. And the imagery at that point in the film, we see there are children. I think that was at the very beginning, a young girl. There are people who are standing young men who are standing, I think, at Sumner High School. You see someone who had been working on a roof, I think. There's just these, it is not still imagery.

It's animated. People are living. They are doing. They are dancing. When you were listening to that part and sort of thinking, Stephanie, about what you have seen. What does it make you also think about? You said there are some things that you just could not unsee, and that was why you decided to participate as you did. What is juxtaposed against those positive images? Well, first I want to answer Kamie's question by saying 48. I was 48 years old when I realized. that this is my home and it was after the tornado I was driving home from our hub our tornado relief hub that we had in Fountain Park and I I got all teary and I was like wow this feels like home this is my home now and I think the And I was in the middle of destruction, right? Like I was seeing the destruction of the storm and simultaneously the love of the people and the community that was both in place because of its long history of organizing, but also the community that was just all around, the humanness of it all. And the fact that I could walk on that park and feel more at home and more in community than anywhere else I had ever lived in my entire life. And my husband talks a lot about the injury of this storm being something called solostalgia, which is this loss of comfort and home. And I think I had had that in my own life a loss of home, but I found it here in St. Louis in this sort of unbelievable catastrophe and place that had been in the setting of a lot of other people who had lost their home too. What does it like to hear that? Cammy? It's a bit emotional for me, I think. I love this place. I think St. Louis brings out the best of people. I see it as almost a charging port, right, that we can bring ourselves to and charge up and become our best selves. And I always say that I feel like in creation, we are walking each other home. We all have our individual paths, but I think when you choose to co-create with others, co-create a new reality. a piece of music, art, we really are walking one another home. So hearing stuff, you know, express those things about the idea of home and knowing that St. Louis, St. Louis in all of its glory and all of its, I don't know, whatever the antithesis of that is, can feel like home to others who have no reason to feel connected to it in the way that I do as far as like being born of this place is really special. Does that also speak to why it's red brick blue tarp?

Yes, I mean, we were in a, to be honest with you, we made the entire film. And I hit our group chat and said, y'all, we have to pick a name for this film. Like, I'm at the point where we have to, I can't export until we have a name. And we all just sort of rift. It was like jazz, just everybody dropping in different ideas. And then Steph, you know, I don't want to tell the story, but Steph is the one who ultimately picked the name. Yeah, I had been in an airplane. that summer, like in July or August, and in coming into land, I looked out at the city, and that's what I saw. Those St. Louis red brick buildings, which are beautiful and part of our history and the blue tarps. And what we did here, you're also part of this because you're playing saxophone in this film. So the music is also part of the imagery. I definitely felt that when I watched the film at the high point, like in a theater, which brings us to the number of screenings that have happened. So Jessica, you had mentioned that... You all were thinking, oh, you know, we'll do two screenings, the first one at the Luminary, and then maybe, you know, another one later on. What has happened? Yeah. Yeah, we wanted to have one on the north side and then one somewhere else in the city. And each screening, I think someone approached us about another screening. I think that's kind of how it started to happen. And we said, sure, let's do it. And before we knew it, like we just had this lineup of sold out screenings. Every screening, you know, we had 100 new faces. And so it just kind of happened organically, like one screening after the next. And, you know, we didn't even have a whole lot of lead time beforehand. Like we didn't say, let's have a summer of screenings. It just happened. So it was, it's been a whirlwind this summer. Yeah. Have you noticed that at these screenings, there are certain portions of the film that people seem to have a reaction to, you know, and what is that part? Cammy. I think that when Mr. Harry Alexander Pendleton III is on the screen, I notice a shift even before he began speaking. The interview music bed that we have woven throughout that Owen composed and stuff play saxophone for. It's pretty consistent throughout, but for his interview, we had a separate one, right? We had a dedicated one just for him. And he speaks of losing his wife at Centennial Church. Ms. Pat Pendleton. Exactly. Yes. Yes. So in that moment, I think...

For a lot of people, that's a very emotional portion of the film. I mean, even thinking about it, it brings tears to my eyes. There's been a considerable amount of reporting that has been done about Ms. Pendleton and the people who loved her here at our station. Is there anything that you have noticed that is different, Stephanie or Jessica? I don't want to give too much away for folks. I haven't seen it, but really just kind of the part where we talk about cutting the check, right? And there's a score with that and it brings a new energy and people who maybe hadn't realized the devastation that happened, like the extent of it, like by that part in the film, they've seen the imagery, they've heard some of the stories. And they're like, yeah, like cut us the check. Like we need that money, all money to the north side. How many people have come to any one of you and said, I didn't know that it was this bad? So many people. And is that what they say? I didn't know it was so bad. Yes, I had no idea. I didn't realize, I mean, dozens and dozens and dozens of those conversations following the screenings. And so I think that feeling that they feel by the end of the film, some of that is some anger, right? Of like, I didn't realize this and I didn't realize we still have so much more work to do. One of the things, I think, Jessica, you had said it to me when we talked about the possibility of an STLPR hosted screening. And it was the arts is a place to build muscles for creation. And I think that was it. brought up so many different things about the potential that art has to help us imagine and move toward something that is better. How has this been true with red brick blue tarp? How has it been a place for muscle building?

Everything in St. Louis feels like it ends up being just trading for whatever's next. But I think for me, the process of creation, gathering people together, using the north side as the beautiful backdrop that it is, returning to Sumner, which, you know, the people in that scene, they were all wearing my uncle's Sumner, high school football pads and things. And I think breathing life back into spaces, gathering. Seeing who is in this fight with us through creation and then through the screenings is something that, you know, when it comes to what we'll need to make it and rebuild into the next version of St. Louis, the next version of reality, I think we've been finding more and more people who are going to take that walk with us. You all have been to Washington, D.C. together, right? What happened there that demonstrates how this film is sort of creating space? for something that you didn't expect and that's necessary. Stephanie? Well, I think the biggest thing, we went and we talked to other survivors of extreme weather at a conference there in D.C., and I think one of the things that, we shared many things with those communities that were there representing, I think one of the things that's unique about St. Louis is where it happened and the struggles of the community. and the oppression of the community prior to the storm, which is different and has been different in the recovery process and all of it. I didn't see that as much with some of the other communities that we engaged with in Washington. Jessica, what stands out to you about what happened there and maybe what's possible in the future?

I think, you know, as Steph said, like hearing these patterns, like this is a pattern, no matter where you are, it seems to be that when you experience a disaster, first it's your neighbors and then your community, and then there's kind of a gap in response. And so what does it look like to really build up these homegrown systems? Like what we're doing here is something that's... needed and going to be needed across the country and probably worldwide right we when we first created this documentary we didn't we weren't thinking about necessarily climate change in the bigger conversation but then we were like yeah this is actually a climate justice issue and it's something that's facing folks globally and and I would just add that that I think we sort of realized that I'm I think I'm speaking for all three of us. We realized that when other folks from other parts of the country looked at what we were going through and were like naming it for us. And it was very affirming when they were like, no, that this is what this is. And it isn't okay. And when what's happening is not how it should be happening. That made an impact on me for sure. As we close and sort of think about where we are, What role do you think art and spaces for taking it in, like community screenings? What role does that play in ongoing recovery and in building resilience, not just sort of fixing what is in front of us, but being ready for and prepared for a more flourishing future together? Stephanie. Um, I think I'm four oasis, you all are really like, really building in that resiliency. Yeah, we are. We're learning, we've learned it. I think we're learning the pieces that make, that make up that recipe and what that looks like, how to be ready. Like what we're doing now, we're actually literally thinking about what can we put in place now in blue skies so that when gray skies come and they will come again, we're ready. What does that look like? We've identified some tenants, rest, power, care, and connection of things that, and those things can look many different ways. But I also think they're adaptable to different community settings because every community is unique and will uniquely need to respond. So, yeah, we're learning what those pieces are and how we can set them up now to be ready. So we're not flat-footed ever again. Yeah. To each of you, when we get to 2027, May 16th, what do you want to see? Jessica?

Lots of resources flowing into the north side and rebuilding. Stephanie? Honesty and accountability. I want those things that Jessica just said, and I think the first step towards that is being honest that so far this has been largely a failure of our systems. And Cammy? I would like to see money directly to the north side in the form of federal aid, in the form of HUD dollars, community block development dollars that our city needs. Philanthropic outpouring of support, very tangible, traceable, trackable, things that we can witness. I'd like to see those differences by next year. filmmaker, Cammy Thomas, producer, and community organizer Jessica Wernley, and 314 Oasis co-founder Stephanie Reynolds. Thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. St. Louis Public Radio will host a public screening of red, brick, blue tarp in the public media commons on Friday, August 21st at 7.30 p.m. The program, which is free and open to all ages, will include a post-film conversation with Cammy Thomas. For more details and to RSVP, visit shtlpr.org slash events.

This episode was produced by Elaine Cha. Our audio engineer is Aaron Doer. This podcast was Mix and edited by Aaron. Our executive producer is Alex Hoyer. St. Louis on the air is a production of St. Louis Public Radio. Understanding starts here. Do you find yourself regularly listening to episodes of St. Louis on the air? Suggest us to a friend you think might enjoy our conversations. And leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts on the App Store. It's the simplest way to help people discover our show. Thanks. St. Louis Public Radio is a member-supported service of the University of Missouri, St. Louis.