Choo Choo!
A group of 11 black women boarded the Napa Valley Wine Train in attempts to tour an historic rail car ride with scenic Northern California vineyards over the weekend but their year long planned trip was short lived just two hours later, and they were kicked off the train for all eyes to see.
WOWZERS! All 12 women with the exception of one were black and part of the same book club entitled: ‘Sistah’s On The Reading Edge’.
According to one member, Lisa Renee Johnson [on the far right], it was not all peaches and cream as they’d hope it to be. Following a stream of happy posts of their wine delights along with short video of their enthusiasm of the trip on ‘periscope’, Johnson says that a staff member approach the group and advised them to keep their voices down. Soon thereafter, the staff person reappeared and said ‘this is enough’ and notified them that they were being removed from the train.
” She said people were complaining and I said, Who’s complaining? Johnson says. And she said, Well, people’s faces are uncomfortable. At that point one passenger nearby said, Well, this is not a bar. We reacted, ‘Yes it is a bar, a bar on wheels. ”
Johnson also added the following on her facebook page:
” It was humiliating! I’m really offended to be quite honest. I felt like it was a racist attack on us. I feel we were being singled out. People were looking at us. To get escorted into the hands of waiting police officers.
That’s the humiliating part. The train is set up to be with your friends, to drink wine and have a good time, Johnson added. We were thinking, Who are we offending? “
Clearly this was not an ‘all aboard’ moment for the group of women who were escorted through six train cars only to be met by POLICE OFFICERS as they departed from the train, and later escorted via van back to Napa.
Napa Valley reps first responded then deleted the following post:
” We received several complaints by several parties and we requested three times to the 11 guests. After the third time, we asked that the guests be removed. “
As to why they got the police involved they replied:
” Following verbal and physical abuse toward other guests and staff, it was necessary to get our police involved,” the statement said. “Many groups come on board and celebrate. When those celebrations impact our guests, we do intervene. “
Sidebar: Hmmm! There was never any mentioning of an actual altercation that ensued on the train other than a noise complaint. In addition, no arrests or citations were given to any of the women.
Now that the story has gone viral, the wine train manager reps have issued a full refund to each of the women and released the following statement:
” We want to apologize to these women for their experience,” Singer said. We want to listen to their concerns and complaints. “
Johnson says that an official apology is to be made and not skimmed over with a small statement of guilt, and the PEOPLE concur.
The hashtag #laughingwhileblack has hit the web causing a flood of commentary with many people in an uproar over the incident. It’s always a slippery slope when the word ‘racist’ is added to the complaint or conversation but this was clearly a wrongful act on Napa’s part and now they are well aware of their big mistake. SMH!
One Love PLUMS!