Some say video highlighting downtown Mooresville lacks diversity

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Residents say a video posted by the Downtown Mooresville Commission is not a true representation of Mooresville.

The video posted on Facebook showcases people and businesses in the downtown area. But residents like Justin Crews said it does not show all the people who make the area what it is.

WATCH: Downtown Mooresville Commission video draws complaints

“Don’t see myself,” Crews said. “There’s so much diversity here — different ethnicities, age ranges, businesses — and I didn’t see any of that in that video.”

Crews said what he saw was the exact opposite.

“I just saw white Mooresville,” he said. “It was all white — Caucasian — people and white businesses. It was just like they were promoting themselves and not the town of Mooresville.”

White people make up 77% of the Mooresville population, Black people make up 10%, and Hispanic people make up 7%.

“We are a small percentage of here, but we’re here. And because we are here, that needs to be reflected here in Mooresville,” Crews said.

Eric Simelton told Channel 9 that he has owned Main Street Barber and Styling for 20 years in downtown Mooresville. He also had questions about the video.

“What was your motive?” Simelton asked. “Everybody should be included.”

Simelton went on to say the last thing he wants is for the video to give Mooresville a bad name or look.

“We don’t need any kind of controversy. And this can start a bit of controversy if it’s not looked into and done right. We just want to be fair. That’s all,” Simelton said.

“Diversity and inclusion need to be at the forefront of anything that you decide to post,” Crews said.

Other residents are calling for the Downtown Mooresville Commission to remake the video and highlight the diversity that’s in their town.

Channel 9 reached out to the organization as well as the mayor about the video. The mayor acknowledged that while the Town of Mooresville does give the Downtown Mooresville Commission some funding to support events, they were not involved in making the video.

“The Downtown Commission is an independent group with an independent board,” Mayor Christopher Carney said. “We do obviously give them some funding to support downtown events. We have a staff and town board member as liaisons. The town was in no way involved in the making of this video.”

Channel 9 did notice the video was no longer posted on the Downtown Mooresville Facebook page by Thursday afternoon. In a statement, the commission told Channel 9 that “patrons representing a range of ethnicities and ages were included” in the video. They apologized, saying they took the video down “due to reported harassment of and by followers sharing differing opinions in the thread, which violates our social media policy.”

“The video referred to was created with the intent to show a broad overview of the varying things available to do in Downtown Mooresville and patrons representing a range of ethnicities and ages were included. We are genuinely distressed that some of our Facebook followers felt that there was not enough diversity shown in the video,” their statement reads. “The MDC is responsible for a 15-block municipal service district in the core of Downtown Mooresville. In that area, we have 114 small, independently owned businesses. We are proud of each and every one and feel extremely fortunate to have such a diversity of unique services and entrepreneurs. We sincerely apologize to anyone in our community that felt they were not properly represented. The video has been removed from Facebook due to reported harassment of and by followers sharing differing opinions in the thread, which violates our social media policy. We welcome constructive feedback and always strive to improve; however, we adhere to a zero-tolerance rule for any type of intimidation on our platforms.”

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