Hashtag #laughingwhileblack stems from wine train incident

The head of a book club is refusing to accept an apology from the Napa Valley Wine Train. “When we get to St. Helena they are putting us off the train”. So it’s unclear whether the book club members have accepted the company’s apologies and whether they would take up the CEO’s offer for a free ride on the train all to themselves.

Napa Valley Wine Train CEO Anthony Giaccio promised cultural diversity and sensitivity training for employees and offered up an entire train vehicle – which seats up to 50 people – to the women for a free trip in the future. “When those celebrations impact our guests, we do intervene”. “We accept full responsibility for the chain of events that led to this regrettable treatment of our guests”.

“Giaccio made the public apology three days after the racially charged controversy made global headlines and sparked an ongoing social media fire storm that spawned the trending hashtag, “#laughingwhileblack”.

According to Lisa Renee Johnson, a member of the club, the group, which was comprised of 10 black women and one white woman, were just having a good time on the train as they chatted, snapped pictures and streamed their experience on Periscope. “We feel like we were never their customers, and they never ever made accommodations for us”. Book club member Lisa Renee Johnson said that employees told the women they were laughing and talking too loudly.

“I find it interesting their apology didn’t come until after they hired a high-powered consultant”, Johnson said, referring to Sam Singer, the San Francisco crisis communications specialist from whose email account the Wine Train’s apology was published.

“Following verbal and physical abuse toward other guests and staff, it was necessary to get our police involved”, said the statement, shared on Facebook.

“We did not do something flawed”, membership member Lisa Johnson, who chronicled the episode in cellphone movies and social media, advised KTVU Monday.

One member of the group is 83.

“We were insensitive when we asked you to depart our train by marching you down the aisle past all the other passengers”, he said in his letter. The statement remained online Tuesday afternoon, with more than 14,000 signatures. The women say they were ordered off the wine train Saturday, August 22, 2015. “I can’t see us going back on that train”. “And patience”. Worse, the company originally posted on their Facebook page that the women were ejected after becoming violent.

Adding insult to injury, the staff “paraded” them through five cars full of passengers to exit the train, Johnson told CNN affiliate KRON.

“Years ago, the same thing happened to me and my guests at Chez Panisse (the landmark nouvelle cuisine eatery in Berkeley), and after chastising us all through the meal because our laughter was so loud they ushered us out the door (after getting our money) wagging their fingers and glaring at us”, Handelman wrote.

Johnson, the book club member who took to Facebook, did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for additional comment.

On Tuesday, Handelman expressed hopes that lessons from the Wine Train dispute would help the tourist business learn to smooth over differences with customers and avoid confrontation.

Taking to Facebook, Johnson put the incident on blast with making it known that the group’s enjoyment did not strike a negative chord with other people on the train. “As Oprah Winfrey would say, ‘We can’t do better unless we know better”. Johnson and her friends in the club were highly embarrassed by the incident.

Giaccio said he had a conversation with Johnson, a leader of the Sistahs on the Reading Edge Book Club, and offered the group the free passes for a reserved vehicle “where you can enjoy yourselves as loudly as you desire”.