Discussing bias is important, says book club leader after settlement with Napa Valley Wine Train
Northern California women asked to leave a Napa Valley wine country train tour, reportedly for being too loud, have settled their discrimination lawsuit with the company.
The 11 women, 10 of whom are black, are part of a book club that meets at different locations. According to the San Jose Mercury News, the Napa Valley Wine Train and the women recently reached their agreement through mediation.
The women are between the ages of 39 and 85. The train maitre d’hotel reportedly asked them to “tone down” their noise level and then ejected them, escorting the group through six train cars to meet with police and wait for a taxi van at the St. Helena station.
Police made no arrests or citations, the Napa Valley Register reported. The Napa Valley Wine Train said an employee asked the book club members to speak more quietly after complaints from other passengers.
Shortly after the incident, there was a Facebook post on the company’s account that accused the women of physical and verbal abuse, the New York Times reports. It was later deleted because it was wrong, according to the article.
The incident inspired the social media hashtag #laughingwhileblack .
“We thought the purpose of the Wine Train was to have a good time and enjoy being with a large group. No one told us of any noise ordinance. If you get a group of 11 women talking and laughing, it’s going to be loud,” Lisa Renee Johnson, the book club’s leader, told the Napa Valley Register last year.
The maitre d’hotel said “people were complaining and I said, ‘Who’s complaining?’ And she said, ‘Well, people’s faces are uncomfortable,’ ” Johnson told the Napa Valley Register. “At that point, one passenger nearby said, ‘Well, this is not a bar.’ We reacted, ‘Yes, it is a bar, a bar on wheels.’”
The settlement amount for the lawsuit, which originally sought $11 million, is confidential. An attorney for the Napa Valley Wine Train told the Mercury News that his client has no comment on the matter.
“We all have biases,” Johnson told the New York Times. She added that “finding the courage to behave differently” is something many Americans should be talking about.
