Vandals overturned tables in the dining room and kitchen, damaged equipment and wrote racial slurs and other racist comments on the walls.
Essence
The owner of a popular restaurant in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, returned to her establishment earlier this week to a shock after discovering that the establishment had been trashed and vandalized.
According to the Clarion Ledger, Vikki Layne Terrell, owner of Vikki Layne’s Bar and Grill, found tables overturned in the dining room and kitchen, damaged equipment and wrote the n-word on a mirror and spray-painted “Get out” and “You not welcome” on the walls.
“I don’t know why anyone would do this,” Terrell told the news site. “I should not walk into the women’s room and see racial slurs on the walls.”
https://www.facebook.com/VikkiLayne/videos/2291744987614197/
So far, no suspects have been identified, however, police have been looking into the incident and reviewing surveillance footage from nearby as they work on the case.
The restaurant moved less than a year ago to its current location in downtown Hattiesburg, which is when Terrell said her issues began.
Since the move, Terrell has been subject to racist comments made by others, including one white customer who asked not to be seated next to Black customers or children, and another white customer who wanted a white server to care for them…at a Black-owned restaurant.
“People are blatant at some of the things I go through here,” she said. “I never thought something like this would happen to me…This is 2019. This is Hattiesburg.”
Terrell, however, refuses to back down, confirming that she will remain in her current location “for years to come.”
“They should have at least waited until I was tired. You just gave me my second wind,” she said. “Now I can’t dare let you make me move. I can’t dare let you make me get out.”
This article originally appeared in Essence.
