Apparently, it’s a crime for Black people to laugh and enjoy themselves in public. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, a group of Black women were forced off of a train for “laughing while black.”
The incident occurred when 11 Black women from the Sisters on the Reading Edge book club boarded the Napa Valley Wine Train in California. The women were enjoying themselves and sipping wine, similar to other passengers, when the manager of the train approached the women and told them, “This isn’t a bar” before telling them to lower their voices.
Shortly after the initial request, the manager returned and told each of the Black women that they would have to leave the train. When they arrived at St. Helen, California, the women were met by police and forced to get off the train.
The women, which included an 83-year-old grandmother, said they were embarrassed by the incident. One white passenger revealed that the incident seemed to be racially motivated and expressed her feelings on a review that was posted on Yelp.
The women were refunded their money, but they could seek further compensation in a probable discrimination lawsuit.
The Napa Valley Wine Train administrators are investigating to make sure proper protocol was used.
