Mall accused of Racial bias, profiling over tilted cap

• Instructs Black Man to Adjust Baseball Cap or Leave

 A Miami University student says Cincinnati Mills guards who confronted him last week because he was wearing his ball cap tilted to the side did so because he is black. The mall's conduct code prohibits apparel "likely to provoke a disturbance or embroil other groups or the general public in open conflict." Mall general manager Jim Childress said the policy has been enforced since the former Forest Fair Mall reopened under new management Aug. 19. "The tipping of cap bills sometimes will send a message that will incite a disturbance," Childress said. Donnie Jefferson, 18, a Miami University sophomore from Bond Hill, said he had just entered the mall to shop for school supplies Friday when he was approached twice by mall security and handed a slip of paper that outlines the mall's conduct code. "I wasn't the only one wearing a tilted ball cap that day," he said. "There were a lot of white teenagers dressed the same way. But black youths were the only ones being handed the codes of conduct and being hassled about what they were wearing and how they were wearing it." Mall security is instructed to distribute the code to patrons not abiding by it. [more ]
Breaking: Cincinnati Mills changes cap code [more ]