Georgia Town Refuses to Lift Shopping Ban on 21 Youths

UNION POINT, Ga. —  Merchants and city officials refused Friday to lift a ban on 21 young blacks who are being kept from stores in an effort to curb crime.

The merchants and officials said in a statement they could still negotiate with mediators, but “are not willing to remove the ban under the current demands.”

Lawyers H. Samuel Atkins Jr. and John Michael Brown have filed a federal lawsuit against 16 merchants and Mayor Ben Stewart on behalf of 12 of the men, who are on a list of 21 banned shoppers.

The mayor owns three of the businesses enforcing the ban, put in place in December to cut down on burglaries and shoplifting. There was no indication from merchants that the ban had had any effect on crime.

“They’re branding all young black people as criminals in Union Point,” Atkins has said.

Stewart met Thursday with representatives from the Justice Department and the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People.

Atkins and Brown said in a statement Friday that lifting the ban would be only a first step and also demanded that Stewart “admit that he was wrong.”

“We call on him to personally apologize to each of these young people . . . admit that he acted in total disregard of their rights,” they said.

But the statement issued by merchants and the city said, “The city believes that neither the city nor its merchants has done anything wrong.”

Atkins said most of those named on the list had never been charged with shoplifting, theft or burglary. Police identified them as people they had to deal with regularly in the town 75 miles east of Atlanta.