Maybe the protest groups at the NRA’s annual meetings in Atlanta this weekend would have enjoyed a bigger turnout if many of the nation’s educators weren’t tied up at the American Federation of Teachers Higher Education Organizing Conference in Detroit this weekend.
Did we say many? Just look at this big audience agreeing with AFT president Randi Weingarten as she outs Education Secretary Betsy DeVos as a “public education denier.”
The #AFTHE17 audience knows that @BetsyDeVos is a public school denier. pic.twitter.com/PL0emT6P36
— Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten) April 29, 2017
Whether they’re denying climate change or the role of public schools, @rweingarten fights them all #peoplesmarch pic.twitter.com/2okTGbIIQh
— AFT (@AFTunion) April 29, 2017
The real story of the conference, which included sessions on organizing a sanctuary campus, organizing for free college, and nonviolent bystander intervention training, was told in this collection of totally point signs.
Look at these totally point signs at #AFTHE17! Fighting for rights on campus and beyond. pic.twitter.com/6FaSmmxSjO
— Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten) April 29, 2017
Are they totally point or are they totally point?
In case it wasn’t clear already, the American Federation of Teachers once again spelled out its platform: public education for everyone, followed by free college. Oh, and ending hate. It wouldn’t hurt if higher ed faculty made more money and had full health coverage, either, while they teach to rooms full of students attending college for free.
Our values: pub ed 4 all w/ free college, health care, economic prosperity, democracy, ending hate. This is the frame 4 our fight. #AFTHE17 pic.twitter.com/9mjs4npaOL
— Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten) April 29, 2017
Thrilled to welcome Frances Fox Piven join us for #AFTHE17 on the critical role educators play in the #resistance. w/ @rweingarten pic.twitter.com/BlC3VUBotS
— AFT (@AFTunion) April 29, 2017
Again, just in case it wasn’t clear, there you have it: educators play a “critical role” in the resistance.
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