Ferguson, MO — A group of Ferguson residents who happened to have dark skin, armed with pistols and AR-15 rifles, descended upon a business which happened to be owned by a person with light skin.
These four men stood outside of this business, which was a Conoco gas station, to protect it from rioters and looters who burned other businesses to the ground over the past week in the St. Louis area.
The reason these four brave men protected this business had nothing to do with their skin color nor the skin color of the owner of the store.
These men were protecting the Conoco gas station owned by Doug Merello, because Merello has employed them over the years. They had mutual interests in the store’s survival as well as respect for one another.
“We would have been burned to the ground many times over if it weren’t for them,” Merellol, whose father first bought it in 1984, told the Review Journal.
“He’s a nice dude, he’s helped us a lot,” said one of the men, a 29-year-old who identified himself as R.J.
The Review Journal Reports that R.J. said they had to chase away several groups of teenagers who wanted to loot the store.
They also had a run in with soldiers from the Missouri National Guard, who mistook them for looters, R.J. said. The guardsmen had their rifles raised and had handcuffed one man before Merello came outside the store to explain that the residents were trying to help, not hurt.
This story should be on news media outlets across the country, but unfortunately it won’t be, for two reasons.
First reason being that it’s a story about transcending prejudice and racial stereotypes which breaks down the propped up charade that humans must be divided based on skin color and other “us vs. them” tactics.
The second reason is that it shows the true power of people policing themselves. Responsibly arming themselves and practicing their second amendment rights, these 4 men were able to do what thousands of national guardsmen, police and FBI were unable to do, prevent looting and damage to property.
Another noteworthy point to this story is that it happened during the first wave of riots back in August as well. The Free Thought Project reported on the fact that police were told to stand down against rioters looters, so protesters and residents stepped up to the plate to protect local businesses.