There was a major protest inside the Mall of America in December. Since then the authorities have been working hard to find ways to punish the protesters and that has resulted in some ridiculous charges. But it seems that the Bloomington City Attorney wasn’t satisfied with only charging a handful of protesters. She wanted to punish the employees at the Mall of America who showed support for the protesters:
Bloomington City Attorney Sandra Johnson said the emails “appear to be valid” after they were posted on Facebook Monday by Black Lives Matter Minneapolis. The group said it obtained the emails through a public records request.
The December emails show the city attorney and Mall of America Corporate Counsel Kathleen Allen weighing trespassing orders and civil charges to deter further unsanctioned demonstrations. In one, Allen says the mall’s owners did not want trespassing orders against Lush employees who showed support for the protest, citing “the potential for further press.”
Johnson argued for a six-month ban from the mall for employees (with an exception allowing access to work at the store) in order to “send a good message to all persons employed at MOA. … Future demonstrations cannot be tolerated.”
This shows that these charges have nothing to do with the law. Under the law the protesters, at most, may have been guilty of trespassing (depending on whether or not you believe a mall that receives massive amounts of tax payer subsidies qualifies as private property). Any working employee wasn’t trespassing since it was their job to be there. If their employer felt those employees had violated any policies it could fire them but there was absolutely no reason for the Bloomington City Attorney to even suggest going after them.
What these charges amount to is petty vengeance. The Bloomington City Attorney is pissed that people decided to ignore her employer’s authority and protest in the Mall of America after being told not to. In the e-mail she said she wanted to “send a good message to all persons employed at MOA.” that future protests will not be tolerated in any way. Putting that statement into plain English she wanted to send a message to all of the serfs at the Mall of America that any disobedience against their lords will be punished swiftly.
She should be fired immediately.