Screenshot: Facebook
A racial profiling test was held at a mall by four white women in hoodies. Why hoodies and why conduct a racial profiling test in a mall? The woman wanted to make a point at a particular mall in Memphis Tennessee, where a viral video showed four black men being escorted out of Wolfchase Galleria for wearing hoodies. According to the malls policy, people must wear “appropriate clothing”. The woman spoke out about how the mall handled the situation saying, ” It struck a chord on us that we could do that. We could walk through there, we could take pictures, we could wear whatever we wanted”. The woman even told Fox, that at some point they pulled hoods over their heads and covered their faces.
Although the mall may have not been against law enforcement, the way the law was administered was biased, and not equally enforced. The women were approached very politely and asked to remove the hoods because it was obscuring their identity, compared to the four young men being thrown out of the facility.
The mall responded to this test saying, “Police are only called if a customer refuse or becomes belligerent. In this instance a Memphis Police Department officer repeatedly requested the individual to remove his hoodie. He did not comply with this directive and was removed from the mall”. The law required “customers to not conceal their identity while on mall property as a matter of public safety”.
