An Island of Justice and Peace

As out-of-state communists and other "activists" continue using a Michael Brown's death as an excuse to frighten children, trespass, and loot, a very encouraging story (HT: Dollars and Crosses) comes from Ferguson. There, amidst the hooliganism, a white businessman's black neighbors have been helping him defend his business from vandals and looters:

"We would have been burned to the ground many times over if it weren't for them," said gas station owner Doug Merello, whose father first bought it in 1984.

Merello said he feels deep ties to Ferguson, and if the loyalty of some of his regular customers is any indication, the feeling is mutual.

At times, [Derrick] Jordan and his friends were joined on Tuesday night by other men from the neighborhood, also armed. None of the men was getting paid to be there. They said they felt they owed it to Merello, who has employed many of them over the years and treats them with respect.

"He's a nice dude, he's helped us a lot," said a 29-year-old who identified himself as R.J. He said he, like the other volunteers, had lived a short distance away from the store for most of his life.

He carried a Taurus 9mm pistol in his sweatpants and drew it out to show another customer, an older man at a pump who was brandishing a MAC-10 machine pistol.

Missouri allows the open carrying of firearms. State lawmakers recently passed a law overriding any local ordinance that banned the open carry of firearms by people who have concealed-weapons permits.

R.J. said on Monday they chased away several groups of teenagers rampaging through the area.

But they have also had a close brush with soldiers from the Missouri National Guard, who mistook them for looters, he said. The guardsmen, rifles raised, had handcuffed one man before Merello came outside the store to explain that the residents were trying to help, not hurt.

Memo to communists: The fact that someone owns a business does not strip him of his humanity, nor does it make him an "oppressor".

Doug Merello is proof of that. And Merello's friends-in-need are proof -- contrary to the violent rabble who have dominated news coverage ever since this sad incident -- that there are lots of good people out there who don't buy the race-baiting and the other dehumanizing leftist rhetoric that have surrounded this sad incident.

I applaud Merello and his friends for standing up to the marauding barbarians in their neighborhood. I also thank them on a personal level: Their courage and commitment to real justice is both an inspiration and a much-needed respite from over a hundred days' bombardment with examples of depravity and moral bankruptcy.

-- CAV