It’s rare these days to find truly uplifting and empowering stories in the press. But the Huffington Post reported an event that involves kindness, integrity and ice cream. You can’t get much more uplifting than that!
The story unfolded at Andrew’s Ice Cream and Dessert in Orange County, California. Two young Muslim women decided to go for some ice cream on a nice warm day. Both of them were wearing their traditional head scarves.
As they chatted and ate their ice cream, they noticed that there was an argument happening at the counter. The manager of the store seemed to be telling a customer to get lost.
One of the women, Malaak Ammari, started to record the incident on her cell phone. To their surprise, the man was upset about them, in their hijabs.
Our girls @MalaakAmmari & @itsdatnunu were brave enough to fight back their rights gracefully! #WomxnInHijabs pic.twitter.com/C7FyQZylkB
— Beauty of all kinds (@hijabiebeauty) May 25, 2016
The shop’s baker, Jessie Noah, was waiting on the angry bigot. She handed him back his money and said:
“You can give somebody else your business. If you can’t be nice, we don’t want you here.”
She escorted the loudmouth to the door, where he turned and pointed to Malaak and her friend Nura Takkish:
“I don’t want THEM near my country!”
The young women were not intimidated. Malaak continued to film the man, while telling him:
“Too bad. We’re here. Sucks for you.”
With a vaguely worded threat, the guy finally turned and walked out the door, which was closed behind him by Noah.
Malaak and Nura can be heard on the tape telling the guy that he’s a racist and that the whole incident is on tape.
What makes the story so uplifting is the fact that the ice cream shop employees were so quick to boot the guy out and to stand up for the two women. What makes it so empowering is that the women themselves gave it right back to him.
What makes it even better than that is the fact that as the story spread, more and more customers, Muslim and non-Muslim, came to thank the owners. More people came to buy ice cream, and thousands of people tweeted and retweeted the story.
It gives me hope to know that even in the age of Donald Trump and the crowds that support him, good people are still willing to stand up for what’s right.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=214IkX8VE70
Featured image via Twitter.
