Muslim fast food worker in US sent home for wearing hijab

Muslim fast food worker in US sent home for wearing hijab
A recent convert to Islam, Folake Adebola shared videos showing her being sent home by her boss for arriving at work in Fort Worth, Dallas, wearing a hijab.
2 min read
01 January, 2020
Folake Adebola converted to Islam in August [Folake Adebola/Twitter]
A Muslim fastfood worker shared a clip on Twitter Monday which shows her boss sending her home, for coming to work at Chicken Express in Fort Worth, Dallas wearing a hijab. 

Folake Adebola shared a short video which shows a confrontation with her boss, where she pleads, "It's part of my religion... I felt like if I work here y'all could be able to (accomodate) my religion".

But her boss sees matters differently. According to him, the traditional Muslim headress is "a different thing" and part of her "personal life out there".

The hijab, he believes, has "nothing to do with religion".

Adebola and her boss remain at a deadlock on the issue by the end of the clip, but the fastfood worker resolutely affirms that she will continue to wear the head covering. 

In a follow-up thread on Twitter, she shared another clip, where a man is heard insisting that the hijab is "not part of the uniform" and that as she, as a paid emloyee, 'cannot wear it'.

The videos have ammased almost 8,000 retweets and over 22,000 'likes'.

Describing the events, Adebola wrote on Twitter, "This is discrimination at its finest! I will not tolerate this at all."

Many on the platform have shown sympathy and support for Adebola's defence of her values.

One user lauded her decision to share the videos as inspiring others in similar situations to find to the "courage for themselves to stand up". 

Other users urged her to "stay strong" in the face of discrimation.

"Definitely trying, I cried all day yesterday because I just couldn't believe it happened to me it's like 2019 almost 2020 this needs to stop."

Chicken Express refused to speak to the Metro when reached for comment. 

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