If the backstage theatrics are any indication, ABC’s Thursday evening town hall on race relations featuring President Obama will reflect what a tinderbox the country has become.
“I was railroaded! I was railroaded by ABC on the two-year anniversary of my father’s death!” reporters accompanying Obama to the taping heard Erica Garner shouting.
“That’s what I have to do? A black person has to yell to be heard?” Garner asked.
Garner’s father, Eric Garner, died on July 17, 2014 after being put in a chokehold by a New York police officer.
Erica Garner said producers promised her the opportunity to ask Obama a question but reneged.
Obama met with Garner after the commotion.
“After the ABC-hosted town hall that was taped this afternoon, the president had a brief opportunity to visit with Erica Garner who was upset that she didn’t get called on to ask a question,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a statement after.
Garner campaigned for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in his failed bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. She appeared in Sanders ad about police brutality and racial inequity in the criminal justice system.
Another member of the audience confronted Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, telling him the way he asked Obama a question in the taping was disrespectful.
