An anti-Muslim message left at a Chicago-area restaurant is now bringing a community together.
A family that owns a Mediterranean-themed restaurant 4 Sisters in Oak Lawn says a patron left them a hateful message as a tip Wednesday.
A dollar bill with the words “NO MUSLIM IMMIGRANTS IN USA!” in bright red ink on it.
The family says the middle-aged man handed over the dollar without saying a word—but the message was clear.
“It’s his home, it’s our home, it’s for everybody,” said Maya Hamed. “We should be uniting, not dividing.”
Now customers and neighbors are coming to let them know just how welcome they are.
On Facebook, a collaborative organized a “cash mob” asking concerned diners to come show their support emotionally and financially.
Local
“I said, we need to get people down there, for one horrible thing that’s said, they need to show them how many people love them and care,” said Stephen English, a regular customer and member of the Southwest Chicago Diversity Collaborative. “I’m hoping as people will come down here, they will spend their money here, they will feed their families here.”
The family’s mother started the business a year ago to put her daughters through St. Xavier University.
“I’m connected to them because of the university, and because of the community and because of the food, and because I love them—we have to respond,” said St. Xavier professor Kathleen McInerney.
And the appreciative family has a message for the man they say left the dollar with the hateful message.
“I want to thank him because it really did unite us, instead of divide us,” Hamed said.
