“Ain’t gonna let nobody make me take my chair home. God made me. I belong here. I got a right to a seating’s the place. The only time you can take my chair is when I die and go to heaven. Until then I’m fighting.”
That was Rev. Dr. William Barber at a press conference today speaking about the incident where he was asked to leave the AMC Fire Tower 12 in Greenville, N.C. after a dispute over seating.
Bishop Barber, 60, has long suffered from a form of arthritis known as ankylosing spondylitis. He travels with his own chair and almost always uses it instead of the seating provided in public spaces.
Tuesday, however, he says 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. He was asked to leave, police were called and Rev. Barber left.
The Bishop said he has since been in contact with AMC Theaters boss Adam Aron. “I am encouraged [by] Brother Aron, the CEO and Chairman of AMC. He asked if he could come and meet with me in Greenville to talk extensively.”
Aron, according to Rev. Barber, “made it clear this is not the way AMC is supposed to work.
“I’ve actually talked to him several times since. I believe he’s sincere, that he’s serious,” Rev. Barber told assembled media. “It doesn’t do him any good to have people acting out in his theaters. No CEO wants people going around making his or her organization look foolish.”
Asked by a local reporter if he was ready to move on after he got an apology, Rev. Barber said, “I’ve already accepted the apology. The apology is the beginning.” The next steps, in his mind, are a face-to-face meeting with Aron and making sure what happened to him will never happen again.
“My first goal is to meet with the president directly,” the Bishop announced, “because: This. Should. Have. Never. Have. Happened.”
He repeatedly referenced the Americans with Disabilities Act and the 145th Amendment and also made it clear that his dispute is not about race, but disability.
“It should have never been a police escalation situation. Never to have been threatened to be charged with trespassing…The law is clear. Title 3 prohibits discrimination based on disability in the activities or places of public accommodation.”
Asked if he was blocking the aisle, the Bishop said he was not. In fact, he said he was formerly the Human Relations Director for the State of North Carolina, and he knows the relevant statutes well.
During the incident, he said one of the managers “Told me I should come back with a doctor’s notice.” They also, he said, brought in an armed security guard during the dispute, and one of them then mocked him as he left.
The Bishop made it clear that he does not fault law enforcement who, he says, apologized to him after he left the theater.
Asked what he will say to Aron when they meet in person Rev. Barber indicated he would keep that private. But, “Believe you me, if we don’t see a difference, there are a number of things we can do…I have secured counsel and consultation. [Civil rights attorney] Harry M Daniels and Maria Town, President and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities.”
“But we’re not there yet,” he said. “This is about systemic changes, what policy changes need to be done to make sure this happens to no one.”