NAACP Protesting Highland Mall This Saturday

The Austin chapter of the NAACP is planning a protest of Highland Mall this Saturday, April 11. People will be gathering at the mall at 9am. NAACP President told News8Austin, "We're going to encourage folks, number one, to not to shop at Highland Mall, pretend it's still closed." This after the mall closed early last Saturday afternoon because the Texas Relays were in town; the mall management defended the action by saying they lacked adequate security. [News8Austin]

Contact the author of this article or email tips@austinist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Elizabeth S. in News on April 9, 2009 12:45 PM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

_Sean_

There was a huge fight at the maul the year before. It nearly incited a riot; youtube it. Therefore they closed early.

nickithink

***Ed. Note: this comment has been removed for violating our commenting policy.***

ATXoutlaw

Why does the mall need 170 security officers during an event in Austin? Because every year during the Texas Relays 30,000 UNSUPERVISED 16 YEAR OLDS descend on Highland mall to hang out with their friends. I don't care what race you are, but an unsupervised 16 year old in a town more than 50 miles from where your parents are is likely to get into some trouble. It turns into a problematic and dangerous situation for the public and for these teenagers, when adequate security is not visible. Others have tried to compare this event to an ACL, sxsw and other event around town to try to support their claim that racism surrounds the Texas Relay mall closing. I worked Highland Mall for over 3 years. Every year it was a cluster-F in the mall and surrounding area and every year the mall ends up closing anyway because of some antics. In 2006, there was a disturbance involving a noise that sounded like a firearm that sent 6000 kids running twoard my store and a 2 door exit. Both myself and my customers were upset and deeply concerned for our saftey. Indences like this one are not always reported to police. Understand that this would be a serious concern for you if you were a business here. This is not the only example.

Here are some youtoob videos of similar "unsubstantuated claims":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJombI6q_nk

I know that racisim exists in this world, I am a black female in my 30's and beleive me I have experienced it first hand. However, I don't think the NAACP has considered all of the facts here and is being presumptious by blaming this on racism in my opinion.

Grape Ape

Apparently they closed because they could only hire 120 security personnel and APD couldn't supply the other 50 officers it usually does for mall security. Now tell me, why does a mall needs 170 security people onsite during an event in Austin? No wonder there is not a rise in crime statistics during the weekend at HM, when you put 200 officers on duty at one location, not much is probably going to happen. It has nothing to do with race it has to do with behavior and economics.

kirby2000

The problem with your statement is that you assume that the mall closed early because of race. You never thought to look at the facts. You tried to look at this from one side. It never occured to you that for years this mall had fallen victim to vandalism, theft, patrons having to deal with fights, and all during the Texas Relays. It is not about race at this point, just about the fact that there are too many people descending upon this mall at one time. If barton creek mall or lakeline mall had closed during this time no one would question it. They would talk about it for a day, but it would have looked like a good business decision. The location of the mall makes your comment the most racist of all. You assume that because of the area of town that this had to be motivated by race.

Monkster

Sorry, folks -- why do you want to bitch about someone having a protest? Don't go if you don't like it, but it's something they see a legitimate. I agree with them. Clearly there was a perception of danger of having young Black males congregating at the mall or other venues, and we have a long history as a society of exploiting this perception. Were you aware that the police closed all of the exits from I-35 to downtown during the Relays, and intended to keep them closed, until a councilmember intervened?

Wes

When will the NAACP realize that reacting to the cause du jour with yet another protest changes nothing and further marginalizes the organization?

Grape Ape

So basically they are going to reenact what did happen anyway; hang out in the parking lot and not buy anything. Powerful stuff NAACP. Normally I support them in their stances on wrongful treatment, but this one is just ridiculous. If everyone just wanted to shop, why didn't any of the other malls see upswings in purchases over the weekend? Do those who attend Relays only shop at Highland when they come to town, is Barton Creek not suitable?