October 2, 2019
Minority & Small Business Week
O PINION
When Simply Living
is seen as Suspicious
My questions
for mall
management
Editor’s note: The following
statement by State Rep. Janelle
Bynum, a black lawmaker from
Happy Valley, was issued in
response to Clackamas Town
Center management stating its
policy to ask people suspected
of loitering to
leave in line
with priorities
to keep peo-
ple safe, after
a recent case
involving her
daughter and
her daughters friends.
by s tate r ep . J anelle b ynum
On Friday, Sept. 20, 2019, my
daughter and her friends were
approached by Clackamas Town
Center Security and accused of
loitering. Clackamas Town Cen-
ter management should answer
these questions:
The incident took place in the
parking lot across from the mov-
ie theater, which was open to the
public and is a common place for
people to wait for movies to begin
or manage pickups and drop-offs.
At the time, the three teenage
girls, two black, one Asian, were
simply figuring out how to repair
their foiled movie plans after
being refused at the Cinemark
Theaters because one of the girls
lacked an ID.
The girls were in my daugh-
ter’s car drinking chocolate
milk, eating Kit Kats, and on
their phones looking up home-
coming dresses. Why were they
approached by security? Why
was the officer interested in their
car? Was his intent to allow them
to stay, or was it to ask them to
leave? How did he communicate
his intent?
The security guard told my
daughter that the mall had a
“strict no loitering policy.”
Please explain in detail in what
manner the girls were violating
this strict “no loitering policy.”
Please explain how this poli-
cy is managed throughout the
mall property. Please explain
the training mall security is giv-
en to enforce the policy. Please
explain why the woman in the
large, white, SUV who was also
waiting in the parking lot just
a few cars down was not spo-
ken to about the policy. Are the
rules different outside of the
mall versus inside the mall?
Please explain why older
white women have reported be-
ing able to sit in their cars for
hours in the parking lot and have
never been approached about
the “strict no-loitering policy.
The girls left after the security
interaction. What would have
been the procedure if the girls
had not moved? The vehicle
plates were logged and the secu-
rity person had both a white and
a yellow sheet with him. What
information was taken and how
will it be used in the future?
This story has spawned public
outrage because it is yet another
example of how African Amer-
ican teens can be doing some-
thing as simple as eating candy
and drinking chocolate milk and
it still qualifies as suspicious ac-
tivity.
All teens view going to the
mall as an American rite of pas-
sage and it shouldn’t be exclu-
sive to those who have the right
“look.”
State Rep. Janelle Bynum
represents parts of Multnomah
County and Clackamas County,
including the southeastern most
part of Portland, most of Happy
Valley and Damascus.
Page 7
Minority Business