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April 02, 2006
Mo Popo at the ATL
Officials of General Growth Properties, Inc. -- the parent company of Northgate Mall -- sent e-mails out to all of its 200-plus malls suggesting increased security at movie theatres in advance of Friday the premiere of, ATL, a film telling the story of four black freestyle-rollerskating teens who get involved in the drug trade.
In a Newschannel 9 piece about the increased security, some movie goers said it was a good move:
"I think it's a little shady, but it's probably a good idea for them to have security based on the movie and the people that they know is gonna come and see the movie," says movie goer Danielle Woods.
Others called it racist:
"In actuality, it is racial profiling," says Northgate shopper Waymon Maddox. "They don't beef up security at premiers for other controversial movies, why this one?"
Channel 9 asked Northgate spokesman Cathy Simms about the beefed-up security. She said that they do it all the time -- that they did it after September 11th, and they'll do it anytime they feel it's necessary. She said the move has nothing to do with profiling and everything to do with safety.
The station then called General Growth to find out what, exactly, it is about ATL that warrants the increased security. Company spokesperson David Keating said there was an incident at a mall several years ago, but declined to elaborate, instead sending the station a very vague statement:
"The email in question certainly was not meant to target the movie's content or its audience. We regret that the email could be read to imply something that we do not condone, and apologize for any unintended offense it may have caused."
Huh? What? Huh?
Anyway, fast forward to Saturday night...
Fights broke out at the Rave Theater in East Ridge after a showing of ATL.
Here's the play-by-play from Nooga.com:
Around 11:51 PM Saturday night, several East Ridge and Chattanooga police officers were dispatched to the Rave Theater on South Terrace in East Ridge when security officers on duty there reported fights were breaking out on the parking lot.As many as three separate fights were going on at one time on the parking lot. The fights were spread out from the front entrance of the theater to the Goodwill Store and the Dollar Store. No fights were reported inside the theater building.
An employee of the theater was injured with trauma to the back of the head and was unconscious for a few moments as paramedics with the Memorial EMS sped to the scene. The injured man was taken to East Ridge Hospital in fair condition.
At least one person was held at gunpoint by police officers while backup officers were en route.
While East ridge police officers handled the crowd in front the Rave, which is in the City of East Ridge, Chattanooga police handled the youths that had moved from the theater parking lot to the parking area at the nearby Sears Essentials store. Several youths were taken into custody and transported to jail or the Hamilton County Juvenile Detention Center, depending on age.
Most all of those fighting were black youths and most all had been to see the movie ATL, a PG-13 movie about black street youths in Atlanta including two rap scenes.
As other movies ended, movie patrons were told to go straight to their cars and leave. Police had the situation under control by about 12:15 a.m.
Nooga.com reported earlier this week officials at Northgate Mall had arranged for extra security while ATL was being shown at the mall. One witness said there was obviously extra security at the Rave including off-duty police officers.
There was also another incident -- this time a shooting -- after a showing of the film in Minneapolis.
I don't know what to say about all of this except that if Hollywood continues to glorify the thug life (even through cautionary tales like ATL), kids are going to continue embracing and imitating it.
News Update | By colrus | 03:47 PM
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