A supermarket employee in Florida says he quit working for Publix when he was told he could not wear a Black Lives Matter protective mask. 

Quentin Desamours, 18, who worked at a Publix store in Lehigh Acres, told the Fort Myers News-Press that he had only worked there for a month and a half before he left his job. He had attended a protest rally in Fort Myers a day prior and came into work with the mask, which had the letters “BLM” representing the slogan, on it.

When he clocked in, an assistant manager reportedly pulled him to the side to talk. "He told me that I was endangering myself and everybody else who worked there,” said Desamours. “Then he said he couldn't have me out on the floor with that mask on.”

Feeling that he was left with no choice, he left the location and then called back to inform store managers that he would not be back.

"We have to make people uncomfortable to get change,” said Desamours.

Maria Brous, spokesperson for Publix, said that employees are allowed to wear medical, surgical and dust masks along with facial coverings until they get uniform masks. But the company has a policy of not allowing non-Publix messages on employee uniforms.

In an interview on a WFLA podcast, Desamours, who only recently graduated high school, said that a Publix district manager called him and apologized and that his job would still be available, but he declined. He said that he wants to continue on a path of activism.

“Moving forward in my life, I intend to keep making stands,” he said. “Like I’ve said on numerous occasions on other news and media outlets, we’re at a tipping point, in the world, in America and I continue to keep fighting for the change I want to see.”