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What’s Up With This?
By Lafe Tolliver, Esq
Guest Column
Well, I will call this the shot that was heard around
the mall…any mall to be exact.
Franklin Park Mall has decided that enuff is enough!
They are seemingly tired of “your” kids, specifically
Shauntae and DeMarcus acting a fool at their place of
business and they are banning their antics, unless
accompanied by a parent or guardian after the hours of 4
p.m. on weekends.
Yes, the mall owners have said in proper coded
language of course that they would appreciate if you, Mr. &
Mrs. Willie Jackson, keep your unruly kids at home during
those hours so that real and serious shoppers may shop
without fear or without having to watch the circus antics of
your kids.
Let’s be real. Let me see the hands of shoppers who
enjoy shopping in an enclosed mall while dodging and
avoiding roving bands of teens, white or black?
Teens who, without a whim, will cuss up a storm and
almost wrestle with each other in the food court. Hmmm…not
many raised hands. I thought so.
Is this a “race” thing? Could be. Also, could not be,
since white teens can be prone to as many shenanigans and
acts of sheer folly as anyone else.
What is at stake is the bottom line and that is the
bucks that the mall wants to make sure continue to stream in
and are not blocked due to irate shoppers going elsewhere
due to the hijinks of uncontrolled teens.
If you have ever been to Franklin Park Mall on the
weekends, and especially during the evening hours, the
entertainment spectacle of the teens doing their thing can
be most absorbing and sometimes downright disrespectful.
The last incident at the mall that seemingly was the
straw that broke the camel’s back was the 100-plus teens who
were apparently “mobbing” when a fight broke out and from
then it was all downhill for the harried mall security
personnel.
According to the US Census Bureau, teens have,
collectively, enormous spending power but in spite of that
statistic, the mall is willing to lose some of that green in
order to preserve its environs as a safe place for others to
meet, greet, eat and shop.
It is a fine and delicate line to balance the interest
of the teen-moneyed group versus other and older shoppers
who do not care to be cajoled or bumped about or subjected
to foul language in a mall setting.
Franklin Park Mall has decided to make a value judgment
and choose a course of action that says that they are in
control of their mall and what happens in it and not
Le’Androse or Ju’LeAnn or Tyneeshianadra.
Now of course some parents will vehemently protest and
says this is a racist policy but it is not because it is
across the board with all teens under the age of 17 and only
on limited hours on weekends.
So, what options are left? Well for one, if parents do
not want to control their kid’s negative conduct and
language, they should have them stay home with mom or dad
and play board games on weekends until they learn some
civility.
Or, the parent or guardian can go to the mall with
their kids and experience the before and after of this
newly-instituted policy.
Or, the parents can group together, pool their funds
and buy a mall and let their kids run wild and see what
happens.
Or, they can group together as parents and find or
establish other social outlets for their kids so that going
to the mall is not seen as a cheap babysitter for the
parents.
Understand that Franklin Park Mall recently invested
$114 million in revamping that mall area and shops and do
you think in the name of Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln and
Washington and Grant (names on the US presidents on the
currency) that they will allow juveniles gangs to wreck
their investment or destroy its image or reputation?
It will be interesting to see what dynamics will be in
play when the mall tries to enforce this age curfew because
if and when kids are seen at the mall during those
restricted hours without a guardian or a parent, they are
going to be asked to leave and if they don’t, they can be
arrested for trespassing on private property.
It is too bad that society has gotten to the point that
kids are so out of control when they go to public places in
groups that they are seen as so dangerous or intimidating
that many people prefer not to be even around them.
It is a direct result of the breakdown in manners and
civility that society is now experiencing and the mall is
simply a microcosm of the greater problems that we all face
and that is getting along with each other and doing so in a
sane and civil manner.
Bottom line: If your Susie or Billy or Ana’vestia will not
behave at the mall, then
they will behave when they are with you in juvenile court on
charges of trespass or resisting arrest or obstructing
official business.
Contact Lafe Tolliver at tolliver@Juno.com |
