#Laughingwhileblack Comes to the Aid of Book Club Kicked Off Wine Train
When social media got wind of a predominately African-American female book club getting kicked off of a Napa Valley wine train for laughing too loud on August 22, others who have witnessed similar incidents, created the hashtag “#LaughingWhileBlack.”
Twitter users started sharing instances in their own lives where they were asked to leave establishments for being too loud.
Lisa Renee Johnson, a member of the Sistahs on the Reading Edge Book Club, took to the social media website Facebook as the group was kicked off of the train:
“Facebook Family, we have a problem! We sipped wine, enjoyed each other's company but our trip is being cut short...this women said our laughter annoyed her because this is "not a bar"... We are a group of 12...if we all laugh at the same time it's loud! When we get to St. Helena they are putting us off the train.”
After word spread about the women getting kicked off of the train, Napa Valley Wine Train CEO Anthony Giaccio released a statement:
"The Napa Valley Wine Train was 100 percent wrong in its handling of this issue. We accept full responsibility for our failures and for the chain of events that led to this regrettable treatment of our guests."
Johnson told CBS: "We're standing our ground on this issue. I really don't feel that it was a true apology because basically I feel that they're just being directed by their PR person."
Per Johnson’s Facebook page, the Sistahs on the Reading Edge Book Club has retained civil rights attorney, Waukeen McCoy to represent them in legal proceedings. McCoy told the San Francisco Chronicle that the book club is looking into the possibly of suing the Napa Valley Wine Train.
McCoy told the Chicago Citizen Newspaper that he hopes that the Napa Valley Wine Train will be forthcoming in admitting the role they played in the incident.
“One of the options is to resolve the case with the company. I’m going to talk to them this. Hopefully, we can get the matter settled,” McCoy says. “Maybe we can come to some sort of agreement on how to train their employees. Maybe they’ll agree that the women were humiliated.”
McCoy went on to say that the employees of the Napa Valley Wine Train based their decision to kick the group off the train on unfounded assumptions.
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