Jefferson Lines sued for discrimination against Black men

We thought Jim Crow was over, but an unseasoned and uncouth white man has decided that he’s got to pop out and show ni**as that the spirit of 1877 is still alive and well in Amerikkka.

According to reporting done by The Minnesota Star-Tribune, a driver for Jefferson Lines bus service has come under fire for a wild, allegedly racist incident where he forced two Black men to sit in the back of the bus before he would depart the station. One of those men, Xavier Davis, has filed a lawsuit against both the driver and the company in Hennepin County District Court. In 2023, Davis was boarding a bus headed from North Dakota to Minnesota alongside a separate Black male passenger when the “John Doe” driver told them that they had to sit in the back. An argument ensued and “John Doe” threatened to call the police if the men did not comply with his orders.

Jefferson Lines company policy clearly states that passengers are to board on a first come, first serve basis but the driver told the men that policy was for passengers to load in from the back going forward. Meanwhile, white passengers were allowed to sit anywhere they damn well pleased.

Months prior to this week’s lawsuit, Xavier Davis contacted the Minnesota Department of Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero to launch an investigation into the incident. In her memo, Lucero noted that all of the driver’s reasons for why the Black men had to sit in the back were based on racial discrimination, a fact that will surely help Davis in his lawsuit. The driver, when questioned by Jefferson Lines, admitted that he forced the men to sit in the back because they smelled like marijuana, a behavior that Lucero described as “rooted in discriminatory and stereotypical expectations”.

“Driver’s implication that he might need to involve the police was rooted in the trope that a Black man questioning Driver’s decision was somehow threatening or disruptive,” Lucero wrote. “There was no evidence that [Davis] engaged in any activity that would warrant police intervention.”

Davis’ attorney Sam Smith says that they have been negotiating a settlement with Jefferson Line for months but “They just are unwilling to do the right thing,”.

They may be unwilling to do the right thing but the right thing is willing to do them. We hope Xavier Davis breaks the bank.