 "Photo: Sara Young/The Daily Texan")
 "Photo: Karina Jacques/The Daily Texan")
Hundreds of protesters lined Airport Boulevard in front of Highland Mall on Saturday morning to speak out against the mall’s controversial April 4 decision to close its doors seven hours ahead of schedule during the Texas Relays, an annual track and field competition that brings thousands of black youths to Austin.
Nelson Linder, president of the Austin branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, organized the protest and stood alongside the curb urging passing cars to honk in protest of the mall’s actions. Linder, who held a sign reading “Jim Crow Still Exists,” described the early closure during the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays as a violation of black civil rights.
“We’re not going to stay here in this city and tolerate second-class citizenship,” Linder said.
Linder said he thought the entire situation could have been avoided had the mall committed to hiring more security instead of closing its doors.
The Austin American-Statesman reported Friday that the Austin Police Department declined the mall’s request for more than 80 police officers during the relays, citing costs.
The mall pointed to fighting and a decrease in overall sales during last year’s relays as rationale for its early 2 p.m. closure. Mall officials could not be reached for a response to Saturday’s protest.
“For Austin, the relay is one of the few events we have,” said Anthony Caldwell, a Huston-Tillotson University senior who has attended the past two relays. “It’s part of the black community.”
Caldwell and his friend Allen Davenport, a Huston-Tillotson graduate, said the mall’s actions showed a lack of proper planning and preparation, and that the early closure made Austin look inhospitable toward African-Americans.
“I went to South by Southwest, and the mall didn’t shut down then,” said protester Carol Coleman, who described the mall’s closure as racist as she held a sign reading “Shame on Austin.”
“I don’t care how you try to flip it,” she said. “Austin is better than that.”
51 comments
rights."You (or anyone) do not have the "civil right" to access someone else's
businesses whenever you want. They do have the "civil right" to close
their business. They are not obligated to serve you for any reason.
The NAACP is attempting to strip away the mall's right to conduct
business.Does the NAACP protect civil liberties or merely try to transfer them
from one group to another? The mall must stay open because you want
it open? Or do the owners of the mall have a right to make that
choice?It is absolutely reasonable for a business to close early to protect
it's employees and customers from potential violence. It's beyond
silly to call that racism. The mall would not have closed if there
was money to be made. No business owner can afford to turn away
customers in this economy. Ask the people who work at the mall if
they have enough extra money to cut their hours without a good
reason. Unfortunately the relays bring historically bad sales to the
mall. On top of that the mall has to deal with security concerns.
Bad sales and added cost mean it's necessary to close. That's a very
difficult decision but the Highland Mall made the right one.
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