Sarah Safi says she was picking up charcoal for a cookout at a nearby Family Dollar when the cashier asked that she remove her niqab and hijab – a traditional veil worn by Muslim women to cover their face while in public. At that point, Safi began to record the exchange on her cell phone.
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The shocking moment an IN woman was told to leave a store because she was wearing a niqab has been captured on camera.
“I understand, but you have to understand this is a high crime area where we get robbed a lot, you need to remove that from your face or remove yourself from the store”, the employee said.
“Ma’am, you need to take that off your face or you need to leave my store”.
Safi said it was her religious freedom to wear the dress, and the manager threatened to call the police.
Safi says she won’t be going back the store.
Safi later told ABC 7 News she was “really saddened” by the incident. But the manager says it was simply a security issue due to a high crime rate in the area.
That has Safi and Muslim activist groups saying the manager discriminated against her because of her religion.
Her children had been waiting in the auto outside, so she thought it was better to leave as she did not want her children to witness the scene.
The employee later adds, “I am the manager, and I’m telling you to leave my store”, the video shows.
The woman told WHTR that she had lived in the United States for 18 years and never experienced any type of discrimination, let alone an all-out attack.
Family Dollar has not responded to requests for comment, and the employee in question did not want to speak to WLS-TV.
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The Council on American Islamic Relations described the incident as a blatant violation of Safi’s civil rights.
