SMH!!! That's awful
— omg_its_geegee ? (@ThatsGeeGee_15) July 14, 2016
This evening, ABC networks will be broadcasting “The President and the People: A National Conversation.”:
Tonight: President Obama joins a town hall discussion on communities and policing. Watch at 8 p.m. ET on @ABC: https://t.co/TeFybh04PX
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) July 14, 2016
More from ABC News:
The town hall will be moderated by “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir and held in Washington D.C. It will focus on candid discussions on race relations, justice, policing and equality by the members of the community. ESPN’s Jemele Hill will join Muir.
The one-hour event will come just days after President Obama attended a Dallas memorial for five police officers shot dead last week by a sniper. It also comes after two black men were killed by officers in Louisiana and Minnesota — controversial shootings that sparked a wave of protests.
Erica Garner, daughter of Eric Garner — who died in July 2014 after an NYPD officer put him in a choke hold — was invited to participate in tonight’s event. But all she got out of it was disappointment.
Just a few hours before the town hall is set to air, Garner’s blasting this presidential “farce”:
Yo this town hall that presidential town hall #abc arranged is a farce. It was nothing short of full exploitation of Black pain and grief
— officialERICA GARNER (@es_snipes) July 14, 2016
Recommended
They lied to me and my family to get us to travel to DC to participate. Taking time away from things I had planned to remember my father.
— officialERICA GARNER (@es_snipes) July 14, 2016
they promised me that if ANY questions got asked of #POTUS that mine would be asked… They lied to both me and @osope to get us there.
— officialERICA GARNER (@es_snipes) July 14, 2016
I should have known something was wrong when they had little Cameron Sterling standing with the Lt. Gov of Texas while he denounced BLM
— officialERICA GARNER (@es_snipes) July 14, 2016
I need all of you to know that this #ABC town hall that will air at 8pm is a sham. They shut out ALL real and hard questions
— officialERICA GARNER (@es_snipes) July 14, 2016
Wow.
I'm sorry they did that to you, you should have been the first one to ask! You didn't get justice & now you get no answers. ❤️
— Anna (@candidginger) July 14, 2016
***
Update:
More from Garner:
I speak for myself and many others from the movement for Black lives when I say we wereused n I don't endorse what happened today on #abc !
— officialERICA GARNER (@es_snipes) July 14, 2016
I went there trying to represent THE PEOPLE… #ABC wanted ratings even if it meant they had to profit from Black misery and oppression.
— officialERICA GARNER (@es_snipes) July 14, 2016
Update:
Now that it has aired, it’s clear that Garner’s “disturbance” was most definitely cut from ABC’s prime time broadcast. How much more transparency is this administration going to treat us to?
A bizarre scene at the taping of tonight's #POTUStownhall: Erica Garner shouting within earshot of Obama that she didn't get a question in.
— Darren Sands (@darrensands) July 14, 2016
So the disturbance at the race townhall was not aired
— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) July 15, 2016
***
Related:
Is the Eric Garner case a ‘racial issue?’ ‘I really doubt it’ says his daughter
Join the conversation as a VIP Member