As if they stepped through a time warp, patrons of several St. Louis businesses were shocked to find stickers with the words "Whites Only" plastered on storefronts early this week.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Qayum Mohammed who owns Sameem, an Afghani restaurant, was appalled by the sticker, and was confused to find them on other nearby businesses.

At first Mohammed thought he might have been targeted due to his heritage, but soon found that all sorts of other owners had been targeted as well.

"I was hit with a nasty surprise," said Mohammed. "I thought, 'Wow, that's ignorant.'"

"I just immediately removed it," he added. "It was a pretty big sticker, though. I wasn't able to rip it right off."

Mohammed said he was "relieved" that his restaurant was the only target and states that the stickers do not represent his establishment.

"Today I had Somali, Chinese, Caucasian customers," he said. "It wasn't whites only, I promise you."

Mohammed even makes an effort to hire staff members of all ethnic backgrounds.

"I'm proud to say I employ African American, Caucasian American, Malaysian," Mohammad told WENY News.

Another victim of the vandalism was the owner of the restaurant Layla.

Layla's owner, Maria Sparks, wants to set the record straight for those who saw the stickers on Layla and considered it to be a racist business.

"It's clearly someone who's never been in our restaurant or knows anything about us," she said. “This does not represent us.”

Those with sharp eyes will notice a small hashtag on the bottom right-hand corner of the stickers, one that reads "#BLM."

"The opening server who came across the sticker this morning said 'I wonder if this is a group of people who are trying to discredit Black Lives Matter'," said Sparks. "It's a possibility because it doesn't make sense otherwise. It just seemed really random. There's zero context with that sticker and I don't understand it."

Not only did Mohammed notify authorities, but learned from another restaurant owner that there were four to five people putting the stickers on the establishments that were caught on security footage.

"There's cameras all over," he said. "Someone saw something."

Police are currently investigating. There's been no word from Black Lives Matter or from any other group as to why the stickers were put up.

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