A group of protesters posed as Forever 21 employees and outfitted the mannequins at the retailer's Union Square location in New York with T-shirts that read "Black Lives Matter/Never 21", Animal reports. The group also hung a Black Lives Matter banner in the second-story window, and filled racks of clothing with T-shirts that had the same message.
The takeover was done by a group of protesters working for the Never 21 Project. They look to remember and raise awareness of the deaths of black children that were caused by the police, including Aiyana Jones, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and Trayvon Martin. "The phrase #Never21 serves as a reminder of all of the young black lives that have been lost to law enforcement officials and self proclaimed ‘vigilantes,’" the group said in a statement. "These youth were never given the chance to see age 21, or any age there after."
An anonymous member of the group told Gothamist how they pulled the stunt off. "We planned for a long time, and practiced beforehand on mannequins," she said. "We had the shirts sized large so that they would be easy to slip on." The shirts and banner were removed after store managers noticed 20 minutes later, according to the protester.
The group added that Forever 21 is not their enemy, and hope they can work together. "This was not an attack on Forever 21. In actuality, it is an opportunity for the popular retail conglomerate to support the #BlackLivesMatter movement."
You can watch a video about the event produced by Never 21 above.
