GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) — The highly anticipated meeting between Bishop William J. Barber II and AMC Entertainment Holdings CEO Adam Aron was held on Tuesday.
Barber and Aron discussed last week’s incident where Barber was forced to leave the AMC Firetower 12 movie theater in Greenville because he was not allowed to use his own chair to sit and watch “The Color Purple” in a handicapped area. On Dec. 27, AMC issued an apology to Barber, with Aron saying he would meet with Barber in Greenville to discuss the situation.
Barber held a press conference last Friday to discuss the situation. Tuesday’s meeting was not available for the media to attend. Barber did issue a statement after the meeting.
“While I am encouraged by our meeting with Mr. Aron today, we have more to consider. This isn’t about William Barber or one night in December. It’s about the law. It’s about treating every man, woman and child who has disabilities with compassion and dignity and being assured that every place will ‘Accommodate Me Carefully.’ It’s about recognizing that whatever you do to the least of these, you do to me.
“The managers that night at AMC didn’t see me as a man in pain. They saw me as a disturbance and a threat. It doesn’t matter what color they were, they didn’t treat me with dignity and I have to be concerned if they would treat me this way, what would happen with others? They called the police and, while I thank Mr. Aron for his time and consideration, I believe he is sincere and we even share some similar world view, this was a beginning not an ending. An apology is one thing, but what kind of real action will be taken is another. We did commit to at least one other meeting to move towards resolutions for public accommodations.”