Ferguson burger joint unscathed during violence
FERGUSON, Mo. — The Ferguson Burger Bar, which chose not to board its windows in the wake of unrest in the town, went unscathed Monday night after the grand jury's decision was announced.
Owner Charles Davis watched through his window and asked a favor of a friend. "God help us," he pleaded. "God help us."
The window in front of him had already become a symbol of faith and resolve.
"We are okay...thankyou (sic) all," the Burger Bar said in a comment on its Facebook page early Tuesday morning. The restaurant posted that it would be open for its normal business hours Tuesday.
Many customers offered words of comfort and support on the Burger Bar's Facebook page.
"Hope you're safe & were spared…you were my last prayer last night…" wrote a woman identified on Facebook as Kathi Marshall Prochko.
Charles and Kizzie Davis opened their restaurant Aug. 8, the day before Michael Brown was fatally shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson.
While other shop owners boarded up their doors and windows, the Davises have kept their message as clear as the unprotected glass in their front window.
"I want to be visible," said Charles Davis last week. "I just put my faith in God for nothing to happen."
When the smoke cleared Tuesday morning, the Burger Bar and its windows were still intact while two neighboring businesses across the street had been burned to the ground.
Davis pondered the destruction.
"This is not going to resolve anything," he said. "It takes the focus off what the real issue is. It takes the focus off that a young man lost his life."
As neighboring businesses were looted and burned over the summer, the Ferguson Burger Bar kept its doors open. For the first few days of the August riots, members of the media made up the core of the customer base. Only once, when police closed off access to their street, did the Davises lock the front door before their scheduled 11 p.m. closing.
On Monday night after St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch announced the Ferguson grand jury's decision not to indict Wilson, some area businesses were completely engulfed in flames.
At a news conference early Tuesday, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said that at least a dozen buildings were set ablaze.
Looters plundered a Walgreens, a Family Dollar and an AutoZone outlet. Other protesters torched a Little Caesars pizza restaurant and beauty shop.
Police blocked West Florissant Avenue on Tuesday, shutting off access to the Burger Bar, but Davis planned to reopen as soon as the road is clear.
No board and no curtains, windows wide open. "To show people there's nothing really to fear," Davis said. "There's nothing to fear."
Huppert also reports for KARE-TV, Minneapolis-St. Paul. Contributing: Joanie Vasiliadis, WUSA-TV, Washington, D.C.; Yamiche Alcindor, Gary Strauss and John Bacon, USA TODAY.