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She fought the mall, and the mall... compromised

Jasmine McCoy, 18, turned activist when her local mall imposed curfews on teenagers.

BY PATTY RHULE

Jasmine McCoy, center, shown with friends fought a North Carolina mall's ban on groups of more than four teens. Photo: MARK MOSRIE FOR USA WEEKEND

You can fight the city mall. In Asheville, N.C., a curfew policy begun in 1993 at Asheville Mall required that teens under 16 have a parent with them after 6 p.m. on Saturdays. The mall also posted rules that included a ban on bandannas (viewed as gang emblems) and on groups of more than four teens at a time. A series of fights and one gun incident prompted the crackdown - one that "restored a sense of order" - says mall vice president Mary Evans.

But some Asheville teens believed the limits went over the line. Jasmine McCoy, 18, and her friends in the Buncombe County Youth Organizing Project distributed fliers and held meetings during school lunch periods, seeking others with concerns about mall policies. Last summer, the youth group persuaded the mall to drop its no-bandanna policy and ease the restriction on teens congregating.

Asheville's students mirror the views expressed in the USA WEEKEND Teens & Freedom survey: Most teens nationwide said they should be allowed to go to the mall without a parent at age 13.

Across the country, mall management increasingly thinks otherwise. Asheville Mall was among the first to impose a curfew to quell the growing problem of unruly teenagers - but it is hardly alone.

-- In 1994, Macon (Ga.) Mall required teens 16 and older to carry ID cards; those under 16 must be accompanied by a parent.

-- In 1995, Patrick Henry Mall in Newport News, Va., enforced a weekend teen curfew for eight weeks that mall management says put an end to complaints about rowdy teen behavior.

-- And last fall, the nation's largest shopping center, the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., made headlines when it instituted a 6 p.m. weekend curfew for unchaperoned teens.

In Asheville, making the mall more welcoming was just one hurdle Jasmine has cleared. She was captain of Erwin High School's cross-country and indoor/outdoor track teams this year. She also recently helped revive the youth chapter of the Asheville NAACP, and was elected vice president. "I've always been a real opinionated person," Jasmine says. "Everybody should have the same rights."

SITES COVERING TEEN FREEDOMS