I grew up in Bloomington (where the mall is located).
Part of the issue is one that the Mall of America has been fighting for years with the local community: That the mall wonât become a place for ârough types from the city.â This was discussion when the mall added a light rail terminus, the reason they created a curfew (that my white friends and I occasionally violated when we could get away with it). The suit is partially based and justified in race by the MOA and Bloomington Police.
The second issue is that there are very few places to protest, especially in the suburbs, and even more so in the Winter when temperatures are below freezing most days. If this mall was outside in more public space (which is in short supply), this would be more like the Chicago protests over thanksgiving.
My mother who still lives in town is angry that they had an illegal protest, but quickly shushed when I pointed out that protesting the police generally will be illegal if you have to ask the police for a permit.
Private property, not a public space. From the linked article:
While the mall is private property and doesnât allow protests, the activists managed to stage a similar protest in 2014. Hoping to avoid a repeat, the mall is seeking a temporary restraining order that would bar the group from protesting and require organizers to remove protest plans from social media.
The Mall of 62% of America?
Does the Mall of an America serve a public purpose? How does it relate to society?
Iâve been there once on a school trip with the debate team. Place is a huge tourist attraction and i would argue it serves public function in not just being a tourist destination (that brings in a LOT of money) but also in that it serves the same function as any mall, meeting grounds and public venue that gets a lot of foot traffic.
Swan⌠yea the whole âtypical womanâ thing just⌠As I said the least he could do is get creative. Câmon, whatâre we in the fifties⌠and in third grade?
Edit: Combined posts, didnât realize mine was at the bottom of the chain. Derp.
Itâs been a long time since I was at the Mall of America; would it be logistically possible for the BLM activists to adapt the tactics of the Chicago protestors and block, say, the parking lot, or the mall entrance?
Put another way, is there some public property that abuts the private property that they could legally block?
Maybe the solution is something along the lines of breaking into smaller groups and blocking each entrance they legally can. It would be less impressive than a giant mass protest, granted.
Mod note: Stay on topic.
All public spaces have been dismantled leaving only private shopping spaces.
You canât even gather in a park without permit-ssion. Blacklivesmatter is not an individual or person. How can they be sued? Guess the protests are working too well! Time to clamp down on the slaves a little harder.
Not legally. The government is pretty good at making sure that any protest tactic which could disrupt commerce is illegal. This goes for the other aspects of capitalist production too: resource extraction, manufacturing, and transportation.
You can have your protest and sing your songs all day long. But try to stop a logging company from cutting a single tree, or try to block a shipment of sweatshop clothing, or god forbid have your protest where people are trying to shop, and see how long they tolerate you.
This is not a reason to abandon protest, though. This is a reason to abandon lawfulness.
No. Itâs surrounded by a ring of service drives. I canât recall if thereâs any sidewalk, but thereâs precious little public space out there. Honestly, there was probably more accessible public space back in the day when Met Stadium was still in existence.
There are sidewalks, but the parking lots and surrounding area are owned by the mall or private developers.
There was a bus stop in the front of the mall, but last I heard (in August) it is under construction. They moved the main bus stop to the basement near the light rail so no one has to see public transit or something.
To eliminate the right of public assembly, reassign all public space to private property.
Truth.
To eliminate the other amendments, compel individuals to use private arbitration.
Malls have become our public spaces, fellow capitalists, so I will allow it. 
So, lemme get this straight, the organisers of a protest can be sued by the Mall of America, yet nothing can be done about dog-whistling personalities and pastors calling for racist attacks on America citizens?
See, now a Dead Kennedyâs song just popped into my head. âA tourist might see you and we wouldnât want thatâŚâ
Iâve only been to the mall a couple times, only one time to attempt shopping. It was bad enough that I had a nearly front-row seat for construction (howdy from across the river, BTW), but when the North Stars got sold/moved and they built a Sweedish KMart where the arena was, well, it was a bridge too far for me. The closest Iâve been to the place since then was driving by on Cedar Avenue.
Can we bring action against their use of the word America?
Perhaps a judge can force the mall to rename itself?
