The Mall of America (MOA) is private property. So are the other shopping malls in Minnesota. One may not agree with that legal fact but that is the law in this state. This means that owners of shopping malls have a right to deny the public access to their property for the purposes of exercising free speech rights but that does not mean they can deny them access on the basis of race. This distinction seems to be lost in the dispute regarding the trespass prosecution in the “Black Lives Matter” case. Continue Reading
On the day of the first court hearing for the 11 defendants who are accused of various charges around the planning of the December Black Lives Matter protest at the Mall of America, Minnesota’s Black Lives Matter group is calling for a boycott of the Mall, through July 1st. The news comes a day after the group sent out a press release revealing that Bloomington City Attorney Sandra Johnson had exchanged emails with the Mall of America, offering advice. The 11 defendants are accused of organizing a demonstration at the Mall of America over police violence against the Black community. City Attorney Sandra Johnson is seeking $40,000 in restitution for police overtime and lost revenue. On March 9th, Black Lives Matter announced that they had obtained emails between the Mall of America and Bloomington City Attorney Sandra Johnson, which “show disturbing levels of coordination between the City of Bloomington attorney’s office and officials with the Mall of America,” according to a press release. The emails were obtained through a public records request by Tony Webster, according to a statement by Johnson, who did not respond to a request for an interview for this article. The emails reveal that the Mall officials were pushing the city attorney to pursue more serious charges, and Johnson offering advice to the officials. In one email, Kathleen Allen, Corporate Counsel for the Mall of America said, “i’m concerned that if these other charges don’t carry greater penalties than a trespass charge, we’ll be in the same position as last year.” In another email, Johnson encouraged the Mall to continue surveilling the organizers through social media. Continue Reading
