It didn’t materialized, at least the planned one from last night. Although it’s possible those teens have probably stepped back and are keeping their plans more covert and announced at the last possible minute to keep everyone off guard
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Something similar happened in Brazil around 2014 called rolezinhos (wikipedia in portuguese only, sorrry).
Here, there was a huge racial and class component involved.
It was not only youths, but poor and brown ones, who were going to shopping malls to meet and spend time together.
The fear of shoplifting and violence was the same as reported from the first link for LA, but police reaction and brutality surpassed it.
Does those LA takeovers also involve the poorer and browner people than those places usually expect as consumers?
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Maybe if society provided more free and welcoming public spaces for teenagers to hang out and socialize they wouldn’t gather in malls for that purpose?
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I thought malls were for that purpose though so this is super confusing.
That being said one of those road closing drag race style things happened one night nearby a year or so ago and I think several local businesses got damaged and some one died or got badly injured from a car-related injury and some other issues. Hasn’t happened again that I know of, and honestly probably particularly dangerous in this region of the country. But it’s confusing because there is that, but then there are also events called “takeovers” that just basically amount to a lot of young people showing up for stuff that, honestly, sounds pretty normal.
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Malls are welcoming places only so long as the people inside are ready to buy something.
One reason public parks and libraries are so important is because there are precious few remaining public spaces where people can simply exist with no expectation of spending money.
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Can’t they do that online? /s
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Our little city’s library is right next to one of the highschools. There are teens hanging out there all the time. The library makes a point of keeping the tables and computers in the teen area only for teens. Adults can walk in and peruse the graphic novels and manga but not use the tables or computers in that area. Have to use the main areas
It works well. The kids are safe
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My local library just set up some tables and chairs in the lobby, and call it the snack stop. People who have food can now eat not in the stacks. They can also just hang out there if they want to talk to their friends. I know the when it’s cold out they relax the general no sleeping rule. We are lucky in that my town likes to see itself as progressive so there are several places for people to get services and food and stay warm.
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Yay, Frankie!
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Oh dead Bob, is that The Square in the thumbnail?
I know, I can click the play button and find out, but maybe I prefer the liminal space.
I remember this. People were very scared at the time and the authorities had to do something, but they were very lost. They thought it was some movement organized for political purposes. They looked for the leaders and got scared when they realized that there was no one behind them.
The same kind of “protest” occurred some years before, at the turn of the century in a shopping mall for the upper middle class and foreign tourists in Rio de Janeiro. A group that congregate homeless workers took dozens of poor, black and brown people to simply walk around the site. These people spent an hour walking through the corridors, experiencing the feeling of belonging to the consumer society. As it was before the rise of the alt-right and social networks, it didn’t have much impact on media. I only remember a photo published in “Jornal do Brasil” showing some ladies trying on imported makeup and the Mall security guards right behind them, nervous, but doing nothing because those people were citizens walking around. Oh, the security guards’ skin color was the same as the ladies’.
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I have mixed feellings on this movie. I don’t know if I don’t like It or if I just don’t care.
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