Sherrilyn Ifill, the president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, while returning from Washington on an Amtrak was reportedly asked to give up her seat to another rider.
The incident came to attention due to a Twitter thread the civil rights attorney, scholar, and activist started Friday evening, questioning Amtrak directly for why that choice was made.
“The conductor has asked me to leave my seat because she has ‘other people coming who she wants to give this seat.’ Can you please explain?” Ifill tweeted.
.@Amtrak I’m being asked to leave my seat on train 80 which I just boarded in D.C. There are no assigned seats on this train. The conductor has asked me to leave my seat because she has”other people coming who she wants to give this seat.” Can you please explain?
— Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sifill_LDF) January 17, 2020
An Amtrak spokesperson, Jason Abrams, said in a statement to the Baltimore Sun that the company apologizes and wishes they had issued a faster response.
“We should have responded publicly sooner and we apologized for the incident and our slow response,” Abrams wrote. “Amtrak is looking into the matter more closely so we can prevent situations like this going forward.”
The incident led into Martin Luther King Jr. weekend — meant to commemorate the life and legacy of the late civil rights leader, who would have turned 91 years old this year if not for his assassination. For Ifill, her biggest concern was with the authority on Amtrak.
What really disturbs me is how someone with this authority can just entirely make up something so ridiculous and approach a customer in this way. I did wonder when she was carrying on – how far will I take this? And the immediate answer in my mind was “all the way.”
— Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sifill_LDF) January 17, 2020
“What really disturbs me is how someone with this authority can just entirely make up something so ridiculous and approach a customer in this way,” Ifill tweeted. “I did wonder when she was carrying on — how far will I take this? And the immediate answer in my mind was ‘all the way.’”
Ifill is the cousin of late PBS Political Analyst Gwen Ifill and has not responded to media requests for comment according to the Baltimore Sun.