US-based Spirit Airlines accused of racism after throwing 6 black passengers off plane
Passengers of Spirit Airlines Flight 868 accused the company of racism after an altercation over a seat resulted in three black couples being escorted off of the plane at Los Angeles International Airport.
The confusion Monday night started after the passengers claimed the seat was double-booked. After a white flight attendant accused a member of the group of being a threat, the police came and took the six people off of the plane, witnesses told CBS Los Angeles.
“I’m really humiliated just for the simple fact that you hear about this type of stuff happening in America, discrimination issues and stuff like that, but to actually experience it first-hand,” Alexandria Wright, one of the six passengers in the center of the controversy, told the channel.
“It was more than just us having the conversation. Why is that six black people got kicked off the plane?” Wright asked.
Group of black women kicked off Napa wine train after laughing too loud
The 11 women, all members of the same book club, boarded the Napa Valley Wine Train, excited to sip wine in a historic rail car with the scenic northern California vineyards as a backdrop.
One book club member, Lisa Renee Johnson, shared a video on Facebook.
“We made it, y’all,” she said on the video Saturday morning, beaming as her friends waved in the background. “Look at us. We are getting ready to get on the wine train.”
Johnson continued to chronicle the experience through photographs and videos, showing the members of Sistahs on the Reading Edge, many wearing matching black book club T-shirts, as they clinked wine glasses and ate appetizers.
Then two hours in, the train ride turned sour for the book club from Antioch, Calif.
WOW! They paraded us through 6 cars and none of us are even drunk…the police were waiting?
Posted by Lisa Renee Johnson on Sábado, 22 de agosto de 2015
Another passenger scolded the women, saying, “This is not a bar,” according to Johnson’s Facebook page.
Train workers told the women that they had to leave because they were too loud. About 1 p.m., they were met by police officers and given a bus ride back to the station.
Johnson blames racial bias — all but one of the book club members on the train are African American. The hashtag #laughingwhileblack, which Johnson used on her Facebook page, has taken off on social media, with many vowing to boycott the wine train.
“We sipped wine, enjoyed each other’s company but our trip is being cut short,” Johnson wrote. “If we all laugh at the same time it’s loud!”
According to train officials, the women’s laughter had prompted complaints, and workers asked them three times to quiet down.
“It wasn’t an issue of bias,” train spokesman Sam Singer said, adding that conflicts involving overly boisterous passengers occur about once a month. “It was an issue of noise.”
