Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II has sat with presidents, he’s marched with Jesse Jackson and he’s been arrested in peaceful protests for voting rights and higher wages, but his recent experience at the AMC Fire Tower 12 was new to him.
The civil rights leader, at the Greenville, N.C. theater with his 90-year-old mother to see The Color Purple on Tuesday, was asked to leave the theater over a seating issue.
Rev. Barber, 60, has long suffered from a form of arthritis known as ankylosing spondylitis. He has trouble sitting for long stretches, cannot use a wheelchair and walks using two canes. Low chairs are an issue for him. He travels with his own chair and almost always uses it instead of the seating provided in public spaces.
“My chair has been everywhere,” Barber told Religion News Service. “In hospitals, in restaurants, in airports, in the White House and in Congress. It’s a need that I have because I face a very debilitating arthritic condition.”
Tuesday, however, employees at the theater would not allow him to use his special chair, saying it was a fire hazard. Only wheelchairs were permitted, he was told. When Barber asked to see the theater’s written policy, he says he was told there wasn’t one.
Police were called and Rev. Barber agreed to leave, even though he did not agree with the theater’s policy and had to leave his mother in the theater with an assistant.
“I felt like I wasn’t being heard,” Barber told CNN. “It felt as though they weren’t even trying to consider making accommodations for my disability,” he added.
AMC later issued a statement obtained by CNN.
“AMC’s Chairman and CEO Adam Aron has already telephoned him, and plans to meet with him in person in Greenville, NC, next week to discuss both this situation and the good works Bishop Barber is engaged in throughout the years,” the statement reads. “We are also reviewing our policies with our theater teams to help ensure that situations like this do not occur again.”
A spokesperson for AMC Theaters later told Religion News Service, “We sincerely apologize to Bishop Barber for how he was treated, and for the frustration and inconvenience brought to him, his family, and his guests.”
The spokesperson also maintained that AMC welcomes people with disabilities. “Our theatre teams work hard to accommodate guests who have needs that fall outside of the normal course of business,” he added.
Rev. Barber said it’s not just about theater policy, the Americans with Disabilities Act requires such venues to make accommodations
“This is not the ancient world, where people who are sick are pushed to the side and told, ‘You can’t participate,’” he told RNS. “With our laws, you have to make the accommodation.”
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