A Man Harassed a Muslim Woman at a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Shop Because She Was Wearing a Niqab
A Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf shop in California refused to serve a man after he verbally harassed another customer who was wearing a niqab. The whole ordeal was caught on the woman's cell phone and then posted to social media.
In the video, the man yells "is it Halloween or something?" at the woman, to which she replies, "Do you know I am a Muslim?" When she asked him if he had a problem with it he replies, "I don't like your religion, it says to kill me and I don't want to be killed by you." The interaction goes on for over a minute as the man claims that he has read "enough" of the Quran "to know."
Toward the end of the video, the woman turns the camera to herself so that we can see that she is wearing a black niqab and says to the man "you are committing hate speech." A niqab is a garment worn by some Muslim women and it covers both the body and face except for the eyes. While some countries and cities have rules about when and where hijab can be worn, the choice to wear one in the United States is personal and depends on the particular person's preference and interpretation of hijab.
Muslim people are harassed every day in America for what they wear and what they believe in. So much so that a campaign was started in Boston last year to advise people on how to help if they see someone having an issue. While it's a terrible display of discrimination, the video does end on a slightly uplifting note. The manager at the shop refuses to serve the man and when the woman in question asks why she responds, "Because he is disrupting a public space and being very racist."
Following the incident, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf released a statement standing behind the manager's decision to not serve the man in question. The company says that they are "fully committed to ensuring the wellness and safety of its customers, team members, and business. We have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to discrimination of any kind, and have the right to refuse service to any person who makes customers or team members feel endangered in any way."
Teen Vogue has reached out to The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for additional comment and will update if we hear anything.
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