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| Napa wine train controversy: 'I do think it was based on the color of our skin' | Napa wine train controversy: 'I do think it was based on the color of our skin' |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| It was meant to be a grand day out to celebrate Sandra Jamerson’s 63rd birthday, but it ended in humiliation, tears and another fraught discussion over race in America. | It was meant to be a grand day out to celebrate Sandra Jamerson’s 63rd birthday, but it ended in humiliation, tears and another fraught discussion over race in America. |
| Related: Book club says Napa Valley Wine Train ejected them for #LaughingWhileBlack | Related: Book club says Napa Valley Wine Train ejected them for #LaughingWhileBlack |
| Over a gourmet lunch and a couple of glasses of wine, Jamerson and 10 other women of the Sistahs of Reading Edge book club planned to discuss Brenda Jackson’s bestselling romance A Man’s Promise aboard the famous Napa Valley wine train as it trundled through the California vineyards, resplendent in the August sun. | Over a gourmet lunch and a couple of glasses of wine, Jamerson and 10 other women of the Sistahs of Reading Edge book club planned to discuss Brenda Jackson’s bestselling romance A Man’s Promise aboard the famous Napa Valley wine train as it trundled through the California vineyards, resplendent in the August sun. |
| But before they could even begin to discuss whether the protagonist lived up to his promise, or even touch their lunch, they were kicked off the heritage tourist train. Their crime, they claim, was “#laughingwhileblack”. | But before they could even begin to discuss whether the protagonist lived up to his promise, or even touch their lunch, they were kicked off the heritage tourist train. Their crime, they claim, was “#laughingwhileblack”. |
| The ejection of the reading group – 10 African American women and one white woman ranging in age from their 50s to 85 – sparked a social media storm, ignited a fierce debate about racism and “white space” across the country, and could end up in court as the Sistahs are considering bringing a $5m legal claim for “malicious oppression”. | The ejection of the reading group – 10 African American women and one white woman ranging in age from their 50s to 85 – sparked a social media storm, ignited a fierce debate about racism and “white space” across the country, and could end up in court as the Sistahs are considering bringing a $5m legal claim for “malicious oppression”. |
| Jamerson, who can barely talk about the incident and frequently breaks down in tears when reliving the experience weeks later, said the group were “marched” through six carriages and handed over to four waiting armed police officers “as if we were criminals”. While they waited for a bus back to Napa under the harsh California sun, other passengers pressed their faces up against the glass of the restored Honduran mahogany Pullman cars to watch the spectacle. | Jamerson, who can barely talk about the incident and frequently breaks down in tears when reliving the experience weeks later, said the group were “marched” through six carriages and handed over to four waiting armed police officers “as if we were criminals”. While they waited for a bus back to Napa under the harsh California sun, other passengers pressed their faces up against the glass of the restored Honduran mahogany Pullman cars to watch the spectacle. |
| Jamerson just hopes her 64th birthday will be a more joyous occasion. “My son is in the air force,” she said. “He told me: ‘I’m out fighting for my country and here’s my mother – she can’t even go on a wine train and celebrate her birthday with her book group.’” | |
| The train company, which did not initially apologise, said the women, who paid $124 each for the ride, were not ejected because of the colour of their skin but because of the volume of their laughter. | The train company, which did not initially apologise, said the women, who paid $124 each for the ride, were not ejected because of the colour of their skin but because of the volume of their laughter. |
| The women firmly believe the incident was racially motivated and they say it is not the first time that nonwhite groups have complained of discrimination on the wine train. They have hired a prominent civil rights lawyer to explore their legal options. | |
| The women of the reading group, who concede that they were quite loud and boisterous but point out that they did tell the company they were a big group in advance, said they were first warned about their “offensive” laughter before the train had even pulled out of the station in Napa. | The women of the reading group, who concede that they were quite loud and boisterous but point out that they did tell the company they were a big group in advance, said they were first warned about their “offensive” laughter before the train had even pulled out of the station in Napa. |
| The book group members, who were on their 17th annual summer outing, asked the maitre d’ who they had offended. “She [the waitress] said: ‘When you laugh, I see it on the [other] passengers’ faces’,” said Lisa Renee Johnson, another member of the book club who chronicled the incident in real time on Facebook and Twitter using the hashtag #laughingwhileblack. “It was awful. It was a horrible experience.” | |
| Tony Giaccio, chief executive of the Napa Valley wine train, has apologised to the women and conceded his company was “100% wrong” in its handling of “this regrettable treatment of our guests”. But Giaccio maintains that the ejection of the women was not racially motivated. | Tony Giaccio, chief executive of the Napa Valley wine train, has apologised to the women and conceded his company was “100% wrong” in its handling of “this regrettable treatment of our guests”. But Giaccio maintains that the ejection of the women was not racially motivated. |
| The women have refused to accept Giaccio’s letter of apology, which came only after he hired Sam Singer, a legendary west coast PR who promotes himself as “The Fixer” and a “Top Gun for Hire”, to deal with the Twitter storm engulfing the train company. Singer built his name by blaming a teenager mauled to death by a tiger in San Francisco zoo for causing his own death by antagonising the animal. | The women have refused to accept Giaccio’s letter of apology, which came only after he hired Sam Singer, a legendary west coast PR who promotes himself as “The Fixer” and a “Top Gun for Hire”, to deal with the Twitter storm engulfing the train company. Singer built his name by blaming a teenager mauled to death by a tiger in San Francisco zoo for causing his own death by antagonising the animal. |
| “It was about one customer feeling like she belonged in that space – it’s kind of like that term they use: ‘white space’,” Johnson, an author, told the Guardian at her home in Antioch, about two hours’ drive from Napa. “And then wine train staff bought into that and used [their] power to take away our ability to enjoy ourselves and have a good time. I do think it was based on the colour of our skin because everything was great [before we arrived at the station]. There was a phone, we were invisible … but then we show up – 11 black ladies, one white lady – it was like, ‘Oh’.” | “It was about one customer feeling like she belonged in that space – it’s kind of like that term they use: ‘white space’,” Johnson, an author, told the Guardian at her home in Antioch, about two hours’ drive from Napa. “And then wine train staff bought into that and used [their] power to take away our ability to enjoy ourselves and have a good time. I do think it was based on the colour of our skin because everything was great [before we arrived at the station]. There was a phone, we were invisible … but then we show up – 11 black ladies, one white lady – it was like, ‘Oh’.” |
| There are just 486 African American people registered as living in Napa out of a total population of 76,915. That works out at 0.6%, compared to 13.6% for African Americans across the US population, according to the 2010 US census. | There are just 486 African American people registered as living in Napa out of a total population of 76,915. That works out at 0.6%, compared to 13.6% for African Americans across the US population, according to the 2010 US census. |
| The Napa Valley Register this week published a letter to the editor saying the management and staff of the wine train “deserve a well-earned pat on the back” for their handling of the incident. | The Napa Valley Register this week published a letter to the editor saying the management and staff of the wine train “deserve a well-earned pat on the back” for their handling of the incident. |
| The author of the letter, Sue Kelley, said the women were “adults who should have known better”. | The author of the letter, Sue Kelley, said the women were “adults who should have known better”. |
| “Some amount of decorum needs to be observed even when people are travelling on the train in a party mood and having fun. Everyone, without exception, is entitled to equal enjoyment of the Wine Train experience which they paid for with their hard-earned money.” | “Some amount of decorum needs to be observed even when people are travelling on the train in a party mood and having fun. Everyone, without exception, is entitled to equal enjoyment of the Wine Train experience which they paid for with their hard-earned money.” |
| Fighting back tears, book club member Debbie Reynolds, a nurse who said she lost a job as a result of the media storm surrounding the incident, said: “If it wasn’t race-based, then why weren’t the other customers who were speaking loudly and laughing and were of another race not given any warnings? Nothing was said to them about keeping the noise level down. The only people that got warnings were a group of African American women.” | Fighting back tears, book club member Debbie Reynolds, a nurse who said she lost a job as a result of the media storm surrounding the incident, said: “If it wasn’t race-based, then why weren’t the other customers who were speaking loudly and laughing and were of another race not given any warnings? Nothing was said to them about keeping the noise level down. The only people that got warnings were a group of African American women.” |
| Her friend, Allisa Carr, who works in finance, said if the eviction was solely based on noise, “then there should have been some other people who were humiliated and marched out”. | Her friend, Allisa Carr, who works in finance, said if the eviction was solely based on noise, “then there should have been some other people who were humiliated and marched out”. |
| Carr said the incident will be seared in her memory as one of the “most humiliating experiences in my entire life”. “I am professional woman, I am educated,” she said. “Never in a million years had I ever imagined that I would be escorted off a train and given to police officers. It pains me in my heart. It’s very painful, because it’s 2015. I’m a mother of three sons and I never ever want my children to experience something like that.” | Carr said the incident will be seared in her memory as one of the “most humiliating experiences in my entire life”. “I am professional woman, I am educated,” she said. “Never in a million years had I ever imagined that I would be escorted off a train and given to police officers. It pains me in my heart. It’s very painful, because it’s 2015. I’m a mother of three sons and I never ever want my children to experience something like that.” |
| There was more humiliation to come. As the women were beginning to recover from the ordeal on the drive back to Antioch, the train company responded to Lisa’s Facebook posts with a comment of its own. “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.” | There was more humiliation to come. As the women were beginning to recover from the ordeal on the drive back to Antioch, the train company responded to Lisa’s Facebook posts with a comment of its own. “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.” |
| Giaccio also apologised to the women for the Facebook post, which he said was entirely false. “We also erred by placing an inaccurate post on our Facebook site that was not reflective of what actually occurred,” he said in a public apology to the Sistahs. “In the haste to respond to criticism and news inquiries, we made a bad situation worse by rushing to answer questions on social media. We quickly removed the inaccurate post, but the harm was done by our erroneous post.” | Giaccio also apologised to the women for the Facebook post, which he said was entirely false. “We also erred by placing an inaccurate post on our Facebook site that was not reflective of what actually occurred,” he said in a public apology to the Sistahs. “In the haste to respond to criticism and news inquiries, we made a bad situation worse by rushing to answer questions on social media. We quickly removed the inaccurate post, but the harm was done by our erroneous post.” |
| Giaccio refused to speak to the Guardian when reporters visited his office at the wine train station in Napa. A spokesman – Kevin Keane, who works for Sam Singer’s crisis PR company – maintained that the ejection was not racially motivated but said the company would increase its diversity training. However, he maintained that the train’s staff had taken “the appropriate action” in ejecting the women from the train. Keane said no employees have been suspended or given verbal or written warnings as a result of the incident. | Giaccio refused to speak to the Guardian when reporters visited his office at the wine train station in Napa. A spokesman – Kevin Keane, who works for Sam Singer’s crisis PR company – maintained that the ejection was not racially motivated but said the company would increase its diversity training. However, he maintained that the train’s staff had taken “the appropriate action” in ejecting the women from the train. Keane said no employees have been suspended or given verbal or written warnings as a result of the incident. |
| Keane said groups were ejected from the train for being too disruptive about once a month. He was unable to state the races of previous people ejected from the train. | Keane said groups were ejected from the train for being too disruptive about once a month. He was unable to state the races of previous people ejected from the train. |
| ‘I just felt we were not welcomed at the train’ | ‘I just felt we were not welcomed at the train’ |
| It is not the first time that minority groups have publicly complained about how they were treated on the train. Norma Ruiz, a graduate nursing student at the University of California in San Francisco, wrote on the train’s Yelp page in April that she and nine Latino friends were admonished by the manager for making too much noise. | It is not the first time that minority groups have publicly complained about how they were treated on the train. Norma Ruiz, a graduate nursing student at the University of California in San Francisco, wrote on the train’s Yelp page in April that she and nine Latino friends were admonished by the manager for making too much noise. |
| “I just felt we were not welcomed at the train, I did not enjoyed [sic] the rest of the afternoon,” she wrote. “I can understand the rudeness from the other guest, but I just feel management could have done a much better job. I felt so ridiculed when the manager approached me about keeping our noise down.” | “I just felt we were not welcomed at the train, I did not enjoyed [sic] the rest of the afternoon,” she wrote. “I can understand the rudeness from the other guest, but I just feel management could have done a much better job. I felt so ridiculed when the manager approached me about keeping our noise down.” |
| Ruiz later told Slate: “I think it was just that person complaining and then the manager, seeing that we were Latino, basically decided to discriminate [against] us because we were Latinos and group. Now that I hear about this event with a group of African American ladies being kicked out of the train, I’m seeing a pattern.” | |
| Ruiz said that a large group of white women, whom she thought were probably a bachelorette party, on the same train were also making a lot of noise and were not approached about their volume. | |
| Keane said the train company had made no attempt to contact Ruiz to discuss her allegations. | Keane said the train company had made no attempt to contact Ruiz to discuss her allegations. |
| Johnson said she and her friends wanted to ensure no one else ever has to experience discrimination like they did – and if that means launching legal action against Giacco and his company, they will. Their lawyer, Waukeen McCoy, said the case was one of the most egregious he has come across in his 22 years practising as a civil rights lawyer and highlights that racism is still prevalent throughout all strata of society. “It is malicious in how they posted false statements about this group of women [on Facebook] to say that these women were physically abusive. I think it’s worth a lot of money,” he said. “One case can render $500,000, so because there are so many plaintiffs ... once the jury hears their story, they are going to be compelling.” | |
| McCoy said the case could become a class-action lawsuit if more people who feel they were mistreated by the train company come forward. He sent a demand letter to the company on Monday and is this week meeting with the NAACP to discuss coordinated action against the train company, including a possible boycott. | McCoy said the case could become a class-action lawsuit if more people who feel they were mistreated by the train company come forward. He sent a demand letter to the company on Monday and is this week meeting with the NAACP to discuss coordinated action against the train company, including a possible boycott. |
| The Sistahs have been given full refunds and been invited to enjoy another trip on the train in a whole carriage to themselves. They will not be going back. “Nobody got fired, no one go reprimanded. They don’t feel they did anything wrong. How can [we] accept that?” Johnson said. “We, as African American people, we don’t get a choice – when we get up in the morning we are black.” | The Sistahs have been given full refunds and been invited to enjoy another trip on the train in a whole carriage to themselves. They will not be going back. “Nobody got fired, no one go reprimanded. They don’t feel they did anything wrong. How can [we] accept that?” Johnson said. “We, as African American people, we don’t get a choice – when we get up in the morning we are black.” |
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