“It was just an unfortunate misunderstanding, and our officers mishandled it,” said Cindy Childs, marketing director for The Mall At Barnes Crossing. “I breastfed at work. I pumped. The mall was completely supportive of me.”
The incident occurred on Saturday in the mall’s play area when seven women participating in a one-minute Big Latch event — organized for breastfeeding awareness month — began nursing their children.
Within seconds, a security officer approached them and told them they couldn’t “do that here,” according to Toni Hill, one of the participants.
“I said, ‘You mean breastfeed here?’” Hill recalled. “He said, ‘No no no, I didn’t say that. I meant you can’t take pictures of that in the mall.’ I said, ‘what?’ But, by that time, the minute was up.”
Event organizer Brandy Watson said the officer appeared embarrassed to say the word “breastfeeding.”
All the women were discrete, Watson said. Some of them were completely covered by blankets. The large posters in the window of Victoria’s Secret, a lingerie store in the mall, reveal far more cleavage than did any of the participants, she noted.
After the women stopped nursing, a second security officer approached and told them to disperse because the mall didn’t want them holding an unauthorized meeting, Hill said.
“It was shocking,” Watson said.
State law prohibits any ordinance restricting a woman’s right to breastfeed.
News of the incident hit Facebook, where breastfeeding supporters expressed outrage. The original post had garnered more than 20,000 views and more than 600 comments. Facebook deleted it, but another post popped up Sunday.
The mall quickly issued an online apology and reiterated its pro-breastfeeding stance again to The Clarion-Ledger.
“We’ve allowed breastfeeding here for 20 years, and we always will,” said mall manager Jeff Snyder.
Hill and Watson said they appreciate the prompt mea culpa.
This is the third year in a row the mothers held a Big Latch event at the mall, Hill and Synder said. In previous years, the mall had advance warning and was able to prep its security team.
This year, Hill said, she wasn’t able to reach anybody in the office beforehand. She held the event anyway assuming it would be all right since it had been fine in the past.
And it should have been all right, Childs said. But the officers likely were overwhelmed by the situation because so many women were breastfeeding and snapping pictures at the same time.
After the mall’s online apology, a man claiming to be security officer Jim Duke said mall management had no authority to apologize for the officers. He said their response would have been different had they been forewarned.
Duke could not be reached for comment Monday.
Childs said security officers are mall employees — not private contractors — and that she does have authority to speak for them. She also said she had a discussion with the team Monday morning and reminded officers that breastfeeding mothers are welcome.
Watson, Hill and Childs said hopefully something positive will come from the experience, that it will remind people that breastfeeding is healthy and acceptable.
Source- JacksonLedger