Alonzo Taylor, Jr., 14, wanted to celebrate 8th graduation with a group of friends by seeing the latest Avengers movie at the East Warren 20 theater in Wichita, Kansas. Taylor, who is Black, was with several White friends when they all attempted to see the movie, according to KAKE.
However, Taylor was singled out by a White manager due to his pants. The manager yelled at Taylor after he purchased snacks from a concession. He told Taylor to pull his pants up or he would be escorted out. Taylor forgot his belt and was holding popcorn and a soda while walking.
The manager told Taylor to leave and that he was trespassing. He eventually called the police on Taylor.
Taylor was arrested for going to the movies while Black. An honor roll student, Taylor was racially profiled and made a criminal. It was a situation that could have been handled without police involvement.
It’s another example of a White person calling the police on a Black person for simply existing. This form of racism will only stop when racial profiling becomes a crime.
A parent of one of Taylor’s friends decided to speak out and will boycott the movie theater:
“I’ll never go back to Warren theater and here is why: A close friend of my daughters went to see the Avengers with friends, the weekend after 8th grade graduation. He forgot to wear a belt. He happens to be black. Because he was carrying a soda in one hand and popcorn in the other, his pants started to sag a bit. The manager asked him to pull his pants up. As he was walking to set down his food so he could, the manager started yelling at him and told him, ‘I’ll call the cop over here, I don’t even care…’ He responded saying he was setting his stuff down so he could pull up his pants and in the process the manager called the officer over there. Told the officer he was trespassing. The officer (Officer Thomas with WPD) roughed him up, hand cuffed him, threw his popcorn and soda in the trash, gave him a trespassing charge and an impending court date. His mom came to get him and respectfully handled the situation, and the officer told her if she didn’t call to set up the court date that she would go to jail. This boy is the most respectful middle school boy I’ve met. I am appalled that this 14 year old kid knows what handcuffs feel like. I hope to find out if there is more I can do to help the situation.
I hear the new AMC theatre is pretty awesome and I’m happy to boycott the Warren,” wrote Kali Kerr.
