Encouraging News

During the Los Angeles “Rodney King” riots over twenty years ago, one of the most redeemingly hope-inspiring images was that of the city’s Korean shopkeepers took to their streets and rooftops to defend their stores from looters.

At a very difficult time in American history, Americans used their constitutional liberties to keep barbarism at bay.

I’m not an especially emotional person – far from it – but I feel a little swell in my heart when I see the images.  Like the “You can’t take our freedom” speech from Braveheart, the images of the plucky Koreans make me proud to be American – and human.  (Here’s the story, complete with political subtext).

And it was with that in mind that I found this story to be so inspirational:

A group of four black Ferguson residents reportedly armed themselves and descended upon a white-owned business following a grand jury’s decision not to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown. But unlike many of the Ferguson demonstrators, the armed men were there to protect the business, not destroy it in protest.

The well-regulated militia.

The men told the Las Vegas Review Journal that they feel indebted to the white store owner, Doug Merello, who has given them employment over the years.

The black residents reportedly chased off groups of teenagers who allegedly wanted to loot the store. They also reportedly had a close-call after they were mistaken for looters by soldiers with the Missouri National Guard. One of the men was reportedly handcuffed temporarily until Morello could explain to the soldiers what they were doing at his business.

This is a great and noble thing.

3 thoughts on “Encouraging News

  1. You gotta love earthquake zone architecture if you might like to have reinforced concrete between you and rioters’ bullets instead of sheetrock or cinderblock. :^)

    And the 2nd Amendment; because when seconds are the difference between life and death, the police are only minutes away.

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