Has it really come to this? Showing support for law enforcement is now a punishable offense by the left?
Two weeks ago, KMOV reported that Cherri Elder, a South St. Louis business owner was being harassed for displaying flags supporting police on their storefronts.
Cherri Elder owns Elder’s Antiques, a family owned and operated business that has been open for 32 years.
“You just know everybody,” said Elder.
She’s formed relationships with the police that patrol the area and wanted to offer her support by displaying an American flag with a thin blue line in front of her store. However, the flag wasn’t accepted by everyone in the area.
“People came by, they would cuss at you, harass you,” she said, “They would harass the customers.”
She eventually took the flag down to avoid any more confrontations.
“I thought things were getting better,” said Elder, “but apparently it’s not.”
A month later she found a handwritten letter posted on the front window of her shop that read: “Pig supporters not welcome. Flag goes down or you go down.”
On the right corner, there was a symbol most commonly connected with the Communist Party and the letters MLM, which often stand for Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, related to a communist political philosophy that builds upon Marxism.
“I don’t know who’s behind all of this,” said Elder.
Just a few doors down, a window at Delmay Ltd. Antiques is now boarded up after the owner caught three teenage boys on surveillance video kicking the window in before running off. The owner of Delmay also had a flag hanging on her storefront with a thin blue line, but it was stolen.
She doesn’t know if the incidents are related but feels like she too is being targeted.
“My friends, my business are all being targeted,” said Elder.
Today, KMOV reports that the St. Louis Police are investigating another act of vandalism at a south St. Louis store which the owner believes could be a threat for showing support for the police.
Elder’s Antiques’ store owner Cherri Elder told News 4 that someone threw a stone and shoved a sign through the window. The hand-written sign read “You’ve been warned,” regarding the owner flying a Blue Lives Matter flag in support of local law enforcement. The warning was signed with a communist symbol and the initials “MLM” along with “Viva Sendero Luminoso”
“I think they wanted a bigger, bolder statement,” said Elder. “I just know I am sick and tired of it.”
Elder also said she is not sure of what her next step will be but that she will not take the flag down.
“The flag will fly until they kill everyone in my family I guess, my daughter, we are frightened but what’s next, pride flag, St. Louis flag,” said Elder.
Elder says that since the first time News 4 reported the vandalism she has received calls of support from across the country and even from other countries as well.
