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https://www.rawstory.com/2018/11/wh...-tennessee-malls-policy-targets-black-people/
According to Raw Story, the initial incident that garnered national attention was captured by Kevin McKenzie, a black former reporter for the Commercial Appeal, who noted that he started recording the incident at the Wolfchase Galleria in Memphis, Tenn., after watching a white security guard tailing the group of young men like “he was a cat after mice.”
“For reasons I didn’t hear, one young man, in what appeared to be a nylon blue and white jacket with a hood that was not on his head, was handcuffed by a Memphis officer and led away as my video rolled,” McKenzie told the Memphis Flyer. “That’s when a black sheriff’s deputy approached me and told me I also was breaking the mall’s rules.”
After being issued a misdemeanor citation, McKenzie added that the mall’s policy was discriminatory, but Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group, which owns the shopping center, said the policy was to make sure people felt safe—and by “people,” they meant white people, and by “safe” they meant absent of black men.
So several white women decided to use their privilege to see if the rules really applied to all mall patrons and wore hoodies to see if they would be escorted off the premises.
“Sometimes our hoods were up, sometimes our hoods were down,” Arthur wrote. “If a security guard spotted us with our hoods up, they very politely asked us to take them down. One guard said it was because they need to be able to identify everybody’s faces. So we said, ‘Sure,’ took them down, walked on, and put the hoods back up a bit later. Repeat. No threats. Point made.”
McKenzie told the TV station the young black men who were asked to leave the mall didn’t have their hoods pulled over their heads before police got involved, and Ennis said she and her friends had proved a point.
According to Raw Story, the initial incident that garnered national attention was captured by Kevin McKenzie, a black former reporter for the Commercial Appeal, who noted that he started recording the incident at the Wolfchase Galleria in Memphis, Tenn., after watching a white security guard tailing the group of young men like “he was a cat after mice.”
“For reasons I didn’t hear, one young man, in what appeared to be a nylon blue and white jacket with a hood that was not on his head, was handcuffed by a Memphis officer and led away as my video rolled,” McKenzie told the Memphis Flyer. “That’s when a black sheriff’s deputy approached me and told me I also was breaking the mall’s rules.”
After being issued a misdemeanor citation, McKenzie added that the mall’s policy was discriminatory, but Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group, which owns the shopping center, said the policy was to make sure people felt safe—and by “people,” they meant white people, and by “safe” they meant absent of black men.
So several white women decided to use their privilege to see if the rules really applied to all mall patrons and wore hoodies to see if they would be escorted off the premises.
“Sometimes our hoods were up, sometimes our hoods were down,” Arthur wrote. “If a security guard spotted us with our hoods up, they very politely asked us to take them down. One guard said it was because they need to be able to identify everybody’s faces. So we said, ‘Sure,’ took them down, walked on, and put the hoods back up a bit later. Repeat. No threats. Point made.”
McKenzie told the TV station the young black men who were asked to leave the mall didn’t have their hoods pulled over their heads before police got involved, and Ennis said she and her friends had proved a point.
