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Black Teen kicked out of Jacksonville fair after wearing a necklace honoring his deceased mother which officers claimed was “gang related”

An 18-year-old Black man was told to leave the Greater Jacksonville Agriculture Fair on Nov. 3. Police officers told him to leave after he refused to tuck his memorial necklace — an homage to his late mother Yahoo reported.

Officers said the chain was “gang-related” apparel. Four police officers led him and a friend out the event without issuing them a refund.

“There were like four officers. They approached us, and the first one told us to pull up my pants, and the second one told my friend and said, ‘Let me see that,’ and he told him that it was his mom and it wasn’t even his friend, it was his mom,” he told News4Jax. “They told us to get out.”

The day after the incident one of the teens went back to the fair to check the rule board for any rules around attire, there were none. Then he proceeded to call the fair office to ask about any rules that would justify them being kicked out the fair.

Not too long after his phone call, a sign prohibiting “memorial clothing or jewelry” was posted. However, fair officials claim the sign was put up before the fair opened October 31 according to News4Jax.

The incident has caused some tension within the Jacksonville community. A mentor of the teens, Amy Donofrio calling the situation a case of racial profiling. A spokeswoman for the fair, Gayle Hart, called it a “sensitive” situation that has, unfortunately “caused a lot of grief.”

Hart told Yahoo, that Memorial clothing and jewelry is banned from the fair at the recommendation of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO). Hart said the reasoning behind this decision is “because it’s associated with bad behavior. The lieutenant I talked to said it’s the same as when you walk into a bank and you can’t wear sunglasses or a hat.”

However, Donofrio said, “I called the head of the [JSO’s] gang unit last week, and his statement was that memorial apparel, most of it is gang-related.”

The teen’s identity is not being revealed, Donofrio confirmed that he is definitely not affiliated with gang activity.

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