Don't Rehire the Conductor Who Told Tourists "You Can Leave"
The Issue
On July 4, passengers aboard Chattanooga's Incline Railway on Lookout Mountain heard their conductor say over the loudspeaker: "To the very, very few Americans in here, happy Independence Day. To the rest of you, welcome to the greatest country on the face of the planet, and if you disagree, you can leave."
The video went viral on TikTok within hours.
Charles Scherer, visiting from Florida with his son Nathan, sent the recording to the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority (CARTA) the same day. CARTA acted quickly: the conductor was fired with cause before the day was out.
That was the right call. What came next was not.
In its public statement, CARTA's chief of staff Scott Wilson said the agency would "have an open dialogue" with the fired conductor to determine whether there was "an opportunity to rehire him."
The Incline Railway is a publicly funded tourist attraction. Visitors come from around the world to ride up Lookout Mountain. A conductor who uses a public address system to question whether passengers belong in this country based on his assumptions about their citizenship has no business being restored to a customer-facing role on a public transit authority.
Independence Day belongs to everyone who cherishes freedom. Telling tourists they "can leave" on the Fourth of July is not a minor slip. It is a statement about who gets to feel welcome in America.
Sign this petition to demand:
- CARTA publicly commit to not rehiring the conductor who made these xenophobic remarks
- Mandatory cultural sensitivity and anti-discrimination training for all CARTA customer-facing staff
- A direct public apology to the passengers who were made to feel unwelcome on a national holiday
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The Issue
On July 4, passengers aboard Chattanooga's Incline Railway on Lookout Mountain heard their conductor say over the loudspeaker: "To the very, very few Americans in here, happy Independence Day. To the rest of you, welcome to the greatest country on the face of the planet, and if you disagree, you can leave."
The video went viral on TikTok within hours.
Charles Scherer, visiting from Florida with his son Nathan, sent the recording to the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority (CARTA) the same day. CARTA acted quickly: the conductor was fired with cause before the day was out.
That was the right call. What came next was not.
In its public statement, CARTA's chief of staff Scott Wilson said the agency would "have an open dialogue" with the fired conductor to determine whether there was "an opportunity to rehire him."
The Incline Railway is a publicly funded tourist attraction. Visitors come from around the world to ride up Lookout Mountain. A conductor who uses a public address system to question whether passengers belong in this country based on his assumptions about their citizenship has no business being restored to a customer-facing role on a public transit authority.
Independence Day belongs to everyone who cherishes freedom. Telling tourists they "can leave" on the Fourth of July is not a minor slip. It is a statement about who gets to feel welcome in America.
Sign this petition to demand:
- CARTA publicly commit to not rehiring the conductor who made these xenophobic remarks
- Mandatory cultural sensitivity and anti-discrimination training for all CARTA customer-facing staff
- A direct public apology to the passengers who were made to feel unwelcome on a national holiday
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Petition created on July 8, 2026