Five Pieces Of Advice To Napa Valley Wine Train For Kicking Off 11 African-American Women For Laughing Loud

The Napa Valley Wine Train has come under intense public criticisms after some middle-aged African-American women tweeted that they were kicked off the train during a California tour for laughing out loud on board the train.

The train company initially said that the women were being “severely disruptive” but the women countered that argument via Facebook that their removal was racially motivated, as a result they started the hashtag, “#LaughingWhileBlack.”

Although the company has officially apologized to the women, the black community shares the sentiments of the women and says the incident exposes the racial biases and systemic discrimination against people of color in the United States.

Activists, authors, journalists and social commentators have also responded to the incident, in different ways. One of them is Eric March of Upworthy News. March has offered some five simple pieces of advice for the company, and other organizations, in dealing with similar laughing-out-loud characters in the future.

First, March says, “suck it up.” The suck it up is very simple. He argues that there are many venues such as the cemetery, hospital or the office of the governor where being quiet is the appropriate and respectful thing to do. But, according to him, once you are not at any of these places (and especially on a wine train), then expect that people are going to drink and have fun… just have the patience to tolerate them.

Secondly, March says you should realize that everyone enjoys themselves differently, and this is true because we were all created differently. That is why the food that you’re allergic to is someone else’s favorite. But the problem here for March is a situation where an attitude of a group is not seen as such, but instead negatively stereotyped by the outer group. He argues that studies have shown that black girls and women are frequently stereotyped as obnoxious and loud. Other, similar, stereotypes include: Black people feel less pain than white people and black boys are “older and less innocent” than their white peers. This, he says, is a subconscious bias running deep in the US.  He advises that it is important to take a step back and wonder if a group of people who seem “obnoxious and loud” to you, at first, might actually just be “people reasonably enjoying themselves.”

Thirdly, March suggests that anybody who encounters such situations should just tolerate it and complain later to friends and family in private. He argues that when you get home after encountering such situations, go straight to your husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend/BFF/dog and complain about the really loud, annoying women on the train you encountered. He gives an example of how discussing the issue with people close to you will play out:  “Yes, Jeanine, you’re totally right,” they will say. “I’m sure those women were super irritating and you’re right to be annoyed.” March then says not only will you feel validated, but best of all, you won’t be responsible for getting 11 middle-aged African-American women, at least one of whom survived Jim Crow, kicked off a wine train.

Fourth, he urges that you try to not get the cops involved in such issues. It was said that the managers of the train called the cops to kick the women out. The train company then said the women were removed, “for the safety of all of our guests.” But the big question is, when did laughing loud became a security threat? March believes this is not an issue that the cops should be called to respond to, but the cops were called because the women were people of color. He backs is argument up, stating that even when African-American’s commit crimes in the same proportion as whites, black people are more likely to receive criminal treatment.

The fifth, and final, piece of advice he gives is simple: He advises that people should just treat people like people and not like animals. He says, “People can be annoying. That’s a fact of life. But even when they’re annoying, people are people. It’s important to treat them that way, and not as potential problems to be dealt with. We all have to get along in this world. Some of us do life differently than others. We’re all human. Let’s try to respect that.”

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