AURORA, Colo. -- Black leaders reacted Wednesday to allegedly racist remarks from an Aurora Mall leasing agent by threatening a boycott.

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Black Leaders Threaten To Boycott Mall Aurora Mall's Owners React To Shocking Audiotape Hear Leasing Agent As She Talks About Attracting White, Not Ethnic Customers

Gerald Muhammad, a representative of the Nation of Islam, said if their demands aren't met in 24 hours, the black community would boycott the shopping center, which could drive the mall out of business within a year.

"Walk around the mall on any day and you'll see the majority of customers are African Americans and Latinos," Muhammad said.

But he and others who met with mall officials for several hours said they prefer a resolution rather than confrontation, although what they want goes beyond an apology.

"It's easy for us to march, protest and shut something down. That is the last thing we want to do. It's hard work to come together with people who have hurt you and say, 'In spite of the hurt we want to work with you,'" said Bishop Acen Phillips, a retired Aurora minister.

Denver and Aurora black leaders expressed anger about a leasing agent telling a tenant on a secretly recorded audiotape that the mall wants to attract more white customers.

"We just want to reduce the negative, um, aspects of the Center -- one of them is the young, black customer," the agent said in an audiotape obtained exclusively by 7NEWS.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Simon Property Group, which owns and operates the mall, apologized and called the agent's remarks "grossly inappropriate." The Indianapolis-based company said it doesn't intend to exclude anyone from the mall.

The agent, whose identity 7NEWS will not yet disclose, was taken off an Aurora Mall redevelopment project and suspended pending an investigation.

The remarks were made during a telephone conversation secretly taped by Simon Campari, who was a tenant in the mall.

Black leaders didn't detail what demands they presented to mall officials, but said they involved more job opportunities for minority youths and diversity training for the mall's security workers.

"We want constructive change to happen in our community," said Phillips.

He said the boycott wouldn't be confined to the Aurora shopping center. Simon Properties owns malls across the country, including the Mall of America in Minnesota.

John Rulli, executive vice president of Simon Property, said the company is working with black leaders on a plan that can be implemented quickly.

"There are some people who are very angry over what they've heard and I don't blame them for being very angry for the comments that were made, but we are addressing the issue and we think we will be able to make some progress when all is said and done," Rulli told 7NEWS.

"We're not here playing games. We want justice. We want it now and we're not going to wait no seven/eight weeks to get it done," said community activist Alvertis Simmons.

Rulli acknowledged that activists complained that no black subcontractors were hired for the mall's $100 million renovation scheduled to be complete in late 2006. He said minority- and female-owned companies make up about 10 percent of the project's subcontractors.

Nearly 40 percent of Aurora's 297,000 residents identify themselves as ethnic minorities. Blacks account for nearly 14 percent of the population.

Aurora city officials have said they want to resolve the conflict, but don't believe the city should yank $15 million in tax incentives it has offered Simon Property for the redevelopment.

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