Not sure how far along this dance that many are doing with evil is gonna go. Over the weekend family friends along with parents of Andy Lopez, the 13-year-old child who was gunned down by a Sonoma County sheriff deputy named Erick Gelhaus last November were in Santa Rosa Plaza Mall shopping and eating lunch.
The parents and one of the relatives had on pink shirts that said RIP Andy Lopez. They had just left an event for their slain son and came to the mall. They were immediately approached by mall security who told them they would have to remove their t-shirts because the ‘owners don’t like the message…’
Folks need to sit down for a minute and reflect on that before responding on what you think you may know about the law… The parents of Andy Lopez just lost their son 3-4 months ago. The District Attorney Jill Ravitch has been stalling and basically refusing to press charges. many suspect it’s because the sheriff department supports her re-election bid and she has supported the sheriffs campaign. The town is in an uproar as Andy represented the 57th murder by Sonoma County sheriffs in 10 years..
Guards approached the family told them they would have to remove the RIP t-shirts or leave the mall.. A white man was in the mall earlier that day wearing a Justice for Andy shirt and was not approached. In fact guards showed him where the rest room was. That white man happened to be a lawyer, named Jonathan Melrod who got a phone call from the Lopez family when guards were surrounding them telling them they had to remove the shirts..
Melrod returned back to the mall and let the family know what their rights were. A Supreme Court case allows one to wear whatever shirts they please whether its public or private.. The Guards didn’t take kindly to the info and went HAM bringing a total of 10 guards to confront the family. This led to the 300-400 folks in the food court reacting and standing their ground after Melrod hopped up on a table and addressed the crowd. They were in full support of the family..
The owner was called and when all was said and done it was made clear that he had no right to tell someone what kind of shirt they can and can’t wear.. An apology was issued to the family, but that was an act of damage control as far as many are concerned..Only in America folks.. Only in America…