This story needs good, wide coverage, in my personal opinion. This past Tuesday, 60 year old Reverend William Barber took his 90 year old mother to the theater to see The Color Purple. Reverend Barber, as many of you know, has suffered from ankylosing spondylitis, “a rare and painful form of arthritis,” for many years.
Because of his condition, Reverend Barber walks with two canes and uses a special chair, carried by an assistant, to sit. The chair is fairly high, because Reverend Barber cannot sit low or rise from a low position.
After he and his mother were seated, theater personnel called the Greenville, NC police, who escorted Reverend Barber out of the theater “after he tried to use his own chair in the handicapped section of the theater.”
Reverend Barber calls for change
The pastor and former president of the NAACP was in tears Friday as he described bringing his 90-year-old mother to the theater – his Christmas gift to her.
"We went to enjoy the music and the story of that movie of triumph over adversity,” he said, explaining the outing was particularly special for his mother, who worked with his father to help integrate public schools.
At a press conference today, Reverend Barber “reminded the crowd how frustrating and frightening it can be to be disabled.”
Barber also touched briefly on race, describing the danger of someone calling the police about a Black man arguing -- which then elicited an armed police response.
To its credit, the AMC Chairman has apologized and plans to meet with Reverend Barber in Greenville next week.