While addressing the crowd of protestors outside Ego Beauty Supply on Waughtown Street last Saturday, Effrainguan Muhammad, a student minister with the local Nation of Islam, didn’t mix words when delivering his message to the owners of the establishment.  

“Our message is short and simple. Keep your God damned hands off our Black women,” Muhammad said. The protest, which was organized by Hate Out of Winston, was held in response to videos posted on social media that show the store’s owner and a female employee getting into a physical altercation with a Black customer. 

Here’s what we know about the incident: On July 16, at around 10:30 a.m., Terrica Hughes, a professional stylist who has a salon in Clemmons, approached the counter to make a purchase, but when she tried to pay, the transaction couldn’t be completed according to the employee working the register. 

Hughes waited for the error to be corrected and says she used her banking app to show the owner, Hasan Kanan, that the transaction for $31.17 had cleared. But that wasn’t enough for Kanan. Instead, Hughes said she was accused of stealing and Kanan even tried to make her pay again.

Hughes said after waiting about 30 minutes, she tried to grab the items and walk out the store. The video clip posted on social media begins a few seconds before Hughes tried to leave the store. The clip shows Kanan grabbing Hughes and pushing her back to the counter. A female employee also grabs Hughes in the video and takes her bag. 

After Hughes’ video reached more than 100 shares on social media and the “#weareterrica” hashtag started to spread, Ego Beauty Supply released a statement on Facebook. In the statement which included somewhat of a backhanded apology and has since been deleted, they said