I believe there is a difference between rank-and-file teachers and the leadership of radical teachers’ unions. The trouble is, the rank-and-file sits idly by as the radicals embarrass them, time and time again. Perhaps we’ve reached the point where the rank-and-file can rightfully be accused of being complicit of such behavior.
Why aren’t teachers angrily denouncing a recent resolution passed by the California Federation of Teachers in which the union “reaffirms support for death row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal?”
The American Federation of Teachers, led by Randi Weingarten, has to date issued no statement in opposition to this offensive resolution.
And what does the AFL-CIO, the parent to the AFT think? More importantly, what do the police members of the AFL-CIO think? After all, Abu-Jamal was convicted of killing one of their own.
Or don’t they care?
At what point will the teachers’ unions be more concerned with the pitiful state of public education than they are about the fate of a convicted cop killer, or other unrelated issues like gay rights, national health care or American foreign policy?
Mumia Abu-Jamal, a hero of hardcore radical leftists – to some because he executed a police officer – does not deserve the honor and respect of teachers. It sends the wrong message to children. But the fact that the union would take the time to pass such a resolution shows the purpose of the union: to pass a radical agenda that has little if anything to do with education.