Aurora - About a dozen young people on Tuesday called for hearings into racial profiling and discrimination claims at Town Center at Aurora mall.
The group says that a disproportionate number of black and Hispanic teens have been profiled at the mall, formerly the Aurora Mall, because of the clothes they wear or the color of their skin.
They criticized the mall and its owner, Simon Property Group.
"I am really upset about how my people and how my community are being treated," said Jamal Miller, 20, an organizer with the Colorado Progressive Coalition, which fights discrimination.
Town Center at Aurora officials issued a statement before the event, saying the mall at Alameda Avenue and Interstate 225 has "zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind."
Miller, who is black, said he frequently shops at the mall and has been stopped, he says, because of the clothes he wears or the color of his skin.
The Colorado chapter of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, said it has surveyed more than a thousand patrons of the mall since last summer.
The group found that about 50 people said they were victims of racial profiling or harassment.
Both groups staged the news conference in front of the Aurora Municipal Center. They held signs saying "Our $ is Green Too!!!" and "Shopping at Simon is Separate and Unequal."
