AMC Theatres apologizes for kicking out a civil rights leader for using his own chair [View all]

AMC Theatres apologizes for kicking out a civil rights leader for using his own chair
UPDATED DECEMBER 29, 202312:47 PM ET
By Jaclyn Diaz


Bishop William J. Barber III speaks onstage during the Clinton Global Initiative September 2023 Meeting at New York Hilton Midtown on September 19, 2023 in New York City.
Noam Galai/Getty Images

Civil rights leader Bishop William J. Barber II and NAACP North Carolina are calling on AMC Theatres to improve accessibility for patrons with disabilities after an incident this week.

Barber, who suffers from ankylosing spondylitis, a type of arthritis that causes inflammation in the joints and ligaments of the spine, was escorted out of an AMC movie theater on Tuesday for bringing in his own chair to watch a showing of The Color Purple with his 90-year-old mother in the accessible section.

"The movie was supposed to be a gift to my mother," Barber said at a press conference Friday.

He added, "But our plans were interrupted when the managers of the AMC theater here in Greenville chose to call the police rather than accommodate my visible disability."
Snip...much more at the link.
https://www.npr.org/2023/12/28/1222061038/amc-theatres-william-barber-handicap-accessibility

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Civil rights leader: Why I couldn’t watch ‘The Color Purple’ with my mother
Opinion by William J. Barber II
5 minute read
Published 2:09 PM EST, Sat December 30, 2023

CNN-
On the day after Christmas, I took my 90-year-old mother to see “The Color Purple” in Greenville, North Carolina. The outing was a gift to my mother, who is scheduled to receive North Carolina’s highest prize for public service this coming weekend for helping to integrate public schools in the state in the 1960s.
CNN William J. Barber II
Our trip to the movie was also a gift to me. I do not know how many more years I have left with my mother. These times are precious, and I was grateful to be back home in eastern North Carolina to enjoy this movie together with her. Unfortunately, our plans were interrupted when the manager of the local AMC theater chose to call the police rather than accommodate my disability.

For more than 30 years now, I have suffered from a form of arthritis called ankylosing spondylitis. I walk with two canes, and I have to have an assistant carry a tall chair with me everywhere I go because my hip is fused, and I cannot bend to sit in a low chair.

When I was disabled by this disease as a young man, I battled a serious depression. I feared I would have to live out the remainder of my days in a nursing home bed. But my mother, a pianist, came to the hospital and played hymns while a team of doctors and therapists and swim coaches and prayer warriors joined together to help me see that, though my body was broken, I could learn a new way of moving in the world.
Snip...much more at the link.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/30/opinions/the-color-purple-amc-disability-barber/index.html

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