WEBVTT - Past Prejudices, Current Inequities 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:14.680 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to willk F Daily with 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:20.759 me your girl, Daniel Moody recording from the Home Bunker. Folks, 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:23.439 you know, for those of you have been following me 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:28.840 for quite some time, you know that one of the 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:33.400 positions that I had throughout my career was that of teacher. 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:38.959 I taught first and second grade general and special education, 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:43.720 went to school, got my master's in education, went to 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:50.240 Capitol Hill, worked on education policy, worked at an environmental organization, 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:54.280 worked on environmental education and connecting kids with the outdoors. 0:00:54.920 --> 0:01:00.240 Throughout my career, education has been my through line or 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:03.280 what I do now on my podcasts and through my 0:01:03.360 --> 0:01:06.480 writing as education, but with a different audience and on 0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:10.600 different topics. There is nothing that I don't think is 0:01:10.640 --> 0:01:16.280 more important in this country than a quality, robust education, 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:22.120 which is why it is so alarming that education has 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:27.040 been under attack by the radicalized right wing. They don't 0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:31.440 want our children having critical thought. They don't want certain 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:35.880 books by certain people, black, brown, queer being right in 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:39.240 the classroom. They don't want to offer up the whole 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:45.080 truth about this country, about its founding, about how right 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:52.320 our past prejudices have informed our current inequities. They don't 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:56.279 want there to be questions that are raised, because then 0:01:57.680 --> 0:02:03.640 young people will demand answers to those questions. One of 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:07.200 the things that is really truly leading the radical right 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:10.639 is the fact that they are looking around at Generation 0:02:10.840 --> 0:02:13.600 Z and they don't like what they see. They don't 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:18.839 like young people that have the ability to tell other 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:23.040 people how to see them, how to address them. They 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:25.919 don't like the fact that these young people are changing 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:29.720 the workforce and are asking questions like why have we 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:32.720 been working five days a week with only two days 0:02:32.720 --> 0:02:37.360 off one and a half? Really, why do we have 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:39.519 to sit in a cubicle and do our work when 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:43.799 technology affords us the ability to be elsewhere and get 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:47.480 the same amount of work done. Why don't I have 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:54.400 more control over my life right and my livelihood? And 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:58.720 so these are questions that this generation is asking why. 0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:03.240 Because the promises that future generations had, like being better 0:03:03.320 --> 0:03:06.760 off than prior generations, is not going to happen for them. 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:12.480 And so, in order to stop what they believe is 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:18.799 you know, the devil's work, I call it progress, they 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:24.959 have to cut off education at the root and make 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:27.680 sure that they're just creating a bunch of yes men 0:03:28.960 --> 0:03:34.359 widget workers. Creating the permanent underclass for their you know, 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:40.280 oligarchs that they want that they will have. So coming 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:44.160 up next on today's show, I sit down again with 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:47.960 the President of the American Federation of Teachers, Randy Weingarten 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:52.280 to talk about what teachers have been facing, what our 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:56.160 education system has been facing, but more importantly here about 0:03:56.440 --> 0:04:00.200 her ten year initiative around giving every child a book 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:06.360 and why it's critical in a time when literacy rates 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:12.040 are going in the wrong direction. So that conversation is 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:18.599 coming up next, folks, I am very happy to welcome 0:04:18.640 --> 0:04:23.680 back to WOKF Daily the president of AFT, the American 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:27.280 Federation of a teachers' union union that has one point 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:34.080 seven million members, to discuss a huge campaign that was 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:38.240 just wrapped up with First Book, giving away more than 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:42.320 ten million brand new books at schools and community centers 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:48.359 completely free over the last decade, making sure that a 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:52.080 child has a meaningful book that they can call their own. 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:59.640 Randy talk to us about why this initiative was so important, 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:05.480 this decade long initiative to get ten million free books 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:08.520 into the hands of children across this country. 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:13.200 So Danielle, first, thank you for having me on, and second, 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:21.839 it's pretty simple, meaning books. If you believe that literacy 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:25.800 is the absolutely most important thing we can do to 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:29.560 help our kids thrive, then you have to actually give 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:34.919 kids the tools and create joy and have kids see 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:42.240 themselves in their surrounding. And there's no better way to 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:47.960 actually make literacy exciting but to have books and to 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:51.359 have books that have themselves in them. And so that's 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:53.640 part of what we were doing here. And we started 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:58.400 by safely working with First Book to see if we 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:04.159 could help create classroom libraries for teachers who taught in 0:06:04.240 --> 0:06:07.120 either Title one Schools or Title one Kids, which is 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:11.479 the Johnson Anti Poverty Program. And one thing led to 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:16.159 another from classroom libraries because they got books at a 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:19.400 pretty good price point. So we could, you know, get 0:06:19.400 --> 0:06:22.520 this to teachers who often you know, dig into their 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:26.200 pockets for everything for kids anyway, So what was amazing 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:28.640 is one thing one led to another. Then we said, okay, 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:31.480 why don't we actually do book give boys and why 0:06:31.480 --> 0:06:34.080 don't we have literacy fairs. And then we had one 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:37.160 of our first book give boys was in Appalachia and 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:39.760 the First Book and I were there together and Kyle 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:42.400 and I leaned down Kyle as the head of first book. 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:46.320 And one of the boys took a book from me 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:49.960 in a very you know, intrepid way, and he said, 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:53.480 this is going into my library. And so I'm leaning 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:55.359 down and talking to him, and you're smiling, you know, 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:57.560 and I'm smiling and you're smiling because you know where 0:06:57.560 --> 0:07:00.800 this is going. And I'm like, wow, you have a 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:04.360 whole library. He said yes. So I didn't say, well, 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:06.480 whatever other books in there. He said, this is my 0:07:06.600 --> 0:07:11.400 first one. And so you had that story to fast 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:15.320 forward to this last Saturday. A grandma came up to me. 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:17.120 She had been at some of our she's a teacher, 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:20.040 she'd been at some of our first book events. And 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:24.600 she runs up to me with a book about Haitian 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:28.520 culture and she says, I had never seen a book 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:33.200 about Haitian culture in any of these book fairs. This 0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:35.920 is I'm taking this home. We're going to use it 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:41.200 for Mother's Day tomorrow. So, you know, just Matthew Cherry 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:44.080 was with us this past Saturday. He wrote the book 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:47.120 Hair Love To and Which is Band? 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:49.280 In someplace I was going to say, I'm like, this 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:50.600 book is banned. 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:55.520 And it's a book about black kids and their hair 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:59.880 and loving their hair. And so you know this is 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:04.120 so I mean here it's ten million books, it's probably 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:08.400 ten million stories. But what we've done is we've made 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:11.400 this into not just giving out books to spark the 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:17.680 joy of reading and learning, but also to create community. 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:21.640 So in the last just the last two years, we've 0:08:21.680 --> 0:08:26.080 had three hundred and ninety events pretty much on a 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:31.080 Saturday or a Sunday or an after school where community 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:34.680 with parents, where we'd have literacy fairs, we'd have bouncy houses, 0:08:34.679 --> 0:08:37.720 we'd have you know, all sorts of other groups, you know, 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:42.600 healthcare groups, the unions that were around, other community groups 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:46.640 you know, have tables as well. Three hundred and ninety 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:50.320 in two years. This past Saturday we had we we 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:57.319 gave away one hundred fifty thousand books in New York City, Ohio, Illinois, Texas, 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:00.480 and Florida. And then a couple of other of our 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:03.480 virtually said, oh, we weren't in on it. So West 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:07.200 Virginia did it, Puerto Rico did it. The Puerto Rican schools. 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:10.200 After they did it, fifty schools called our Puerto Rican 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:12.160 leaders to say, oh, we want to do this in 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:15.880 our school as well. So what we're doing is we're 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:19.760 also making this a community event. So think about it. 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:23.560 You and I've had these conversations. As extremists ban books, 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:28.800 we're giving them out. As extremists try to erase history 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:33.319 and identity, we are making sure the kids see themselves 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:36.640 and see and can read and their family can read 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:40.200 about honest history. As you know, others are trying to 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:44.680 create chaos and fear and division. We're bringing people together 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:48.920 as a community. So it has all of these ingredients. 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:52.240 And we decided and look, this is our members buying 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:55.199 the books at at a good price point. But you know, 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:58.840 no doubt buying the books. It's cost us millions of 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:01.600 dollars to do. So we're going to keep on doing 0:10:01.720 --> 0:10:04.800 a million books a year because we know how important 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:06.960 it is for kids and for communities. 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:12.240 You know, I just I love this so much. I 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:15.400 love this initiative one because I've always said as a 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:21.079 former teacher that schools need to be the community hub, right, 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:24.320 that in many ways they are the community hub, but 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:27.359 that we don't treat them that way exactly, and particularly 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:31.120 so creating this kind of you know environment where you're 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:34.280 inviting in other unions to have tables, where you are 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:38.000 you know, inviting in the community to participate is something 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:41.439 that is really beautiful and cherished, and I think too, frankly, 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:44.280 at a time when books are being banned, I mean 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:47.840 they're right now. I don't need thousands thousands of books 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:51.960 have been banned. Librarians have shut down portions of you know, 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:54.840 sections of their libraries in school out of fear of 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:59.199 being prosecuted. And you know what I saw right before 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:01.880 I came on to talk talk to you, Randy, is 0:11:01.920 --> 0:11:06.160 that we have a really big literacy problem in this country. 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:10.760 That the literacy rates and proficiency on literacy tests have 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:16.680 really declined since COVID and have not rebounded. Can you 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:20.200 talk to us about what kind of teachers are facing 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:24.200 as we are at a time when books are being banned, 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:28.520 on top of which children are having are really struggling 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:32.880 in this country, particularly black and brown children with literacy 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:33.800 and proficiency. 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:37.400 So what we're seeing, let me just say that in 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:43.120 places that we're working with communities like in Wichita and 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:47.000 Saint Louis, we're actually seeing a rebound in terms of 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:52.240 literacy rates. And so we've had a tutoring program using 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:55.440 the books, a tutoring program in Wichita which saw a 0:11:55.600 --> 0:11:58.839 significant increase in their test course to share same in 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:02.079 terms of Saint Louis and we're you know, because what 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:05.520 we're doing is we're working with parents, we're working with kids, 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:08.720 and we're working with teachers. We're also doing a bunch 0:12:08.760 --> 0:12:12.920 of work to help teachers learn the tools about the 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:16.640 science and reading because for a very long time we 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:21.280 tend to my most favorite new phrase, Danielle is reject 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:24.120 the binary because we've done this says. 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:25.640 This are this or it's that right. 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:30.480 So, you know, so for years teachers actually you know, 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:35.160 taught whole language, which I love in terms of reading, 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:40.000 but we have to actually teach the tools of learning 0:12:40.040 --> 0:12:43.080 how to read. So if you have a kid who's dyslexic, 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:47.160 they need to be hardwired in terms of the tools 0:12:47.200 --> 0:12:52.800 and recognizing words on being or recognizing human words and 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:56.000 being able to put things together the same in terms 0:12:56.000 --> 0:13:00.160 of E and lwards. So there's there has always there's 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:03.840 been issues around how we do the science of reading 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:07.439 and what we do in terms of literacy and people 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:10.880 taking these positions that are either or and we have 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:13.439 to do a both end at both and in terms 0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:18.080 of both the tools about how you teach reading as 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:21.000 well as the love of reading. Well, what has happened 0:13:21.080 --> 0:13:24.520 layer on top of that, and look, you just. 0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:30.800 Have a a Utah governor and a senator from Connecticut 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:35.320 who are both now started working on the happiness deficit 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:38.160 because we have a loneliness problem in the country. 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:40.360 And one of the worst things that happened in COVID 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:45.080 was a that schools were not the priority. Bars and 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:48.240 gyms and restaurants were, so that the stuff that you 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:52.360 needed to do to reopen schools quickly as what happened 0:13:52.400 --> 0:13:55.160 in Europe didn't happen here. And you know, some of 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:58.000 that was Trump and some of that was fear, but 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:02.160 it wasn't a priority. Schools didn't open as quickly as 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:04.440 they ought to in a safe way as they ought to, 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:09.199 and so that created a disconnect. And it's the disconnect 0:14:09.240 --> 0:14:13.040 that you're thinking about. It's the disconnect that that has 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:17.719 helped create terrible loneliness and learning loss. And then on 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:20.640 top of that, layer on top of that, the fixation 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:25.080 with phones now and the fixation with TikTok and with 0:14:25.320 --> 0:14:29.760 Instagram and with the phone being or you know, or 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:33.000 your device is being more important than looking at each other. 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:35.920 And that's what teachers told me in twenty three to 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:39.000 twenty four, twenty two to twenty three, and twenty three 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:42.080 to twenty four, teachers have told talked to me more 0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:46.880 and more about how do we reconnect kids with their lives, 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:52.280 with other kids, with critical thinking, with play, with relationship building. 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:57.360 And when you start seeing that happen, you start seeing 0:14:57.440 --> 0:15:03.480 grades going up again. But COVID did was it disconnected people. 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:08.440 And that disconnect is actually the worst thing I mean, 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:12.000 other than obviously the deaths, or actually the worst thing 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:15.440 in COVID for young people. And that's what we've had 0:15:15.480 --> 0:15:18.720 to overcome and I'm saying it in twenty three twenty 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:22.560 four being overcome more. But then Layran. The third thing 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:26.000 out with Lran is all the culture wars. So as 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:30.320 we're trying to recreate a community, think about what the 0:15:30.560 --> 0:15:34.240 extremists are doing. Oh no, you know, divide, divide, divide, fear, 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:37.200 fear fear. Oh we're not going to meet people where 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:39.600 they are. Oh no, we're not going to be able 0:15:39.600 --> 0:15:44.520 to mitigate or militate conflict because we don't want kids 0:15:44.560 --> 0:15:47.800 to actually read things that may be conflictual. Oh we're 0:15:47.800 --> 0:15:51.560 not going to do sl el because we you know, 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:54.360 that's woke. I mean, so it's so on top of it, 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:58.440 the culture wars actually made this stuff worse. Instead of 0:15:58.480 --> 0:16:01.560 everybody saying, let's be all in to help kids recover, 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:05.000 let's make schools a priority, let's be all in, we've 0:16:05.000 --> 0:16:08.640 been having this craziness. So all of that, all of 0:16:08.680 --> 0:16:12.320 that is part of why it's taken a long time. 0:16:12.960 --> 0:16:14.560 And I think about, you know, I just want to 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:17.080 stick with the craziness for a minute, because I think 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:20.880 about the ways in which the culture wars have really 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:25.920 begun to drive teachers out of the classroom and create 0:16:25.960 --> 0:16:29.560 a teacher shortage. Can you speak to us about that? 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:34.960 Right that there is a crisis in some ways in 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:40.160 the profession because people no longer want to take on 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:46.360 their governors in their states that are not trusting them 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:49.800 with curriculum, that are not trusting them with books, and 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:53.040 so they're deciding, you know what, I'll go do something else. 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:56.560 What has been the effect of the culture war on 0:16:56.720 --> 0:17:00.680 the profession? New teachers entering in and all so older 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:03.000 teacher is just deciding to retire out. 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:09.080 So we had we've had a lot of retirements, not 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:13.600 significantly more than we would have predicted if you didn't 0:17:13.640 --> 0:17:17.240 have COVID, but what we really have had because because 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:20.440 people who have decided to stay for five or ten years, 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:23.679 they're in like they have decided to stay, they have 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:26.280 really figured it out. I mean, I'm not saying that 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:30.360 there hasn't been attrition. There's about four hundred thousand vacancies 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:35.080 each year, so there's it's a large attrition profession anyway. 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:38.240 But the two things, the three things that have happened, 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:41.879 and there's some data on this is Number one, there's 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:46.240 fewer people who are going into teacher ed and we've 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:49.040 already seen you know, you don't hear teacher for America 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:51.879 very much anymore because it doesn't work. You actually have 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:54.879 to be prepared for the profession. So there's fewer people 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:58.800 going into teacher ed and that's a real problem. Number Two, 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:03.840 it's a labor market. So if you look at the data, 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:07.120 you can actually make twenty to twenty five percent more 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:11.560 for the same skills in some other job. And so, 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:15.320 given you know what happens with student debt and given 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:18.280 all of these other things, wanting to make a difference 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:21.440 in the lives of kids is why people become teachers 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:24.720 and status teachers. But you know, you actually have to 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:27.720 live on a family sustaining wage. And so even though 0:18:27.840 --> 0:18:30.600 a lot of our collective bargaining has done very well 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:34.000 this year and last year, you know that if you 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:36.760 can make twenty twenty five percent more in a non 0:18:36.840 --> 0:18:39.120 teaching with the same skills and a non teaching job, 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:41.439 that's a big inducement. And number three, and this is 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:45.480 where we also have data. You have the thirty forty 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:49.840 to fifty sixty percent of teachers. It's gone from thirty 0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:53.920 to sixty dependent upon this stay Ran data just came 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:58.959 out saying that they have felt chilled by these laws. 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:01.840 But even think about it, you're, you know, a former teacher. 0:19:02.240 --> 0:19:05.640 If you have somebody, a kid in your classroom who 0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:10.440 say has decided I don't know, maybe I'm gay, and 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:14.439 you're in Florida, and before the settlement that Robbie Kaplan 0:19:14.480 --> 0:19:16.639 and others got that said, oh no, you can actually 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:19.639 say gay, even though it says don't say gay. But 0:19:19.920 --> 0:19:22.800 a kid asks you a question and you don't know 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:25.080 if you can answer it, because you're going to get 0:19:25.080 --> 0:19:29.040 fired if you answer it. Teacher in Jacksonville had a 0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:32.080 Black Lives Matter flag for years, all of a sudden 0:19:32.320 --> 0:19:34.920 gets fired because she has a Black Lives Matter flat. 0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:38.080 We're defending her, we're fighting for her. But what does 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:41.879 that say. A teacher in Houston teaches a peak of 0:19:42.720 --> 0:19:45.760 doesn't know what he can He's going to retire this year. 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:50.120 He's sick and tired of having to walk on eggshells 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:55.480 about what he can say about slavery. So these things 0:19:55.560 --> 0:19:59.480 have an effect. And so what you know, I make 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:02.160 no apower. Jeane's about saying, we have to be able 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:03.960 to teach on its history and we have to meet 0:20:04.000 --> 0:20:06.320 the needs of kids. And that's who we are. And 0:20:06.359 --> 0:20:08.919 we as a union have said that we will defend 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:11.760 our members. It's if they are attempting to do it 0:20:11.800 --> 0:20:13.000 and they get in trouble for it. 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:19.800 You know, last question for you, Randy. We're heading into 0:20:20.600 --> 0:20:23.720 less than two hundred days until the most consequential election 0:20:23.840 --> 0:20:27.640 of our of our lifetimes, and education in many ways 0:20:28.119 --> 0:20:32.560 is on the ballot. Right in the Republicans Project twenty 0:20:32.600 --> 0:20:35.560 twenty five, they want to get rid of the Department 0:20:35.560 --> 0:20:38.480 of Education if Donald Trump were to get a second term. 0:20:38.720 --> 0:20:44.000 They want to do way with public education altogether. Yes, Biden, right, 0:20:44.080 --> 0:20:48.280 and first lady, first lady is a professor, is a teacher. 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:54.040 They have tried to make investments into education. One wins 0:20:54.119 --> 0:20:58.879 or the other wins. Where will aft be right post 0:20:59.000 --> 0:21:02.720 November in terms terms of fighting for public education and 0:21:02.840 --> 0:21:04.280 fighting for teachers. 0:21:04.960 --> 0:21:08.360 So look, at the end of the day, whoever wins, 0:21:09.119 --> 0:21:11.080 we're going to fight for kids and we're going to 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:15.000 fight for public education. And public education is an anchor 0:21:15.160 --> 0:21:19.119 institution for democracy and pluralism. It doesn't mean just like 0:21:19.160 --> 0:21:21.960 with public education, we always have to strengthen it. We 0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:26.560 always have to strengthen democracy, We always have to strengthen pluralism. 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:29.320 You're never done, you know, And I kind of go 0:21:29.400 --> 0:21:32.320 back to the talmat that says your job is to 0:21:33.240 --> 0:21:35.480 be involved in a task, to start a task. But 0:21:35.960 --> 0:21:39.919 given what we do, you too, You've ever done it 0:21:40.040 --> 0:21:43.080 is always the journey to strengthen it. But the difference 0:21:43.160 --> 0:21:45.720 is going to be and the Republicans of the Congress 0:21:45.720 --> 0:21:48.320 strit to do it this year. What is the federal 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:53.520 involvement in public education? We give funding for schools that 0:21:53.600 --> 0:21:58.560 help poor kids, rural white poor kids, urban black poor kids. 0:21:58.720 --> 0:22:01.119 You're going to take all that away? Okay, So how 0:22:01.160 --> 0:22:03.400 are you going to level the playing field to help kids? 0:22:04.040 --> 0:22:06.040 If you don't do it in education? Where else are 0:22:06.080 --> 0:22:07.880 you going to do it? What do you want to do? 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:12.280 How do you help them become engaged as citizens? You 0:22:12.320 --> 0:22:14.480 want them to do child labor instead of help them 0:22:14.520 --> 0:22:17.720 be engaged in citizens. I mean, so I think that 0:22:17.800 --> 0:22:20.320 we have the better side of this argument. And more 0:22:20.359 --> 0:22:22.840 and more and more when you ask parents, what do 0:22:22.840 --> 0:22:26.240 you want? Do you want to not have public education 0:22:26.359 --> 0:22:30.720 and just have you know, private alternatives where private school 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:33.720 boss could say you can go to my school and 0:22:33.760 --> 0:22:36.560 you can't go to my school depended upon how you 0:22:36.600 --> 0:22:39.719 look or your gender or whatever. Or do you want 0:22:39.880 --> 0:22:43.880 something that says I have an obligation to help meet 0:22:43.920 --> 0:22:46.520 your child's needs and do everything I can so your 0:22:46.600 --> 0:22:50.159 child can thrive. And you know, by eighty twenty people 0:22:50.200 --> 0:22:52.879 say seventy five twenty five, eighty twenty people say they 0:22:52.920 --> 0:22:55.560 want purplic education. So we're going to keep fighting for it. 0:22:55.600 --> 0:22:57.399 But the other thing we're going to do is it 0:22:57.440 --> 0:22:59.800 can't just be about the fight. It has to be 0:22:59.840 --> 0:23:03.720 like we said before, about meeting on literacy and community 0:23:03.760 --> 0:23:07.520 schools and meeting kids where they are experiential learning, having 0:23:07.600 --> 0:23:12.200 workforce development pathways from high school on. We also have 0:23:12.280 --> 0:23:14.760 to change to make sure that we are meeting the 0:23:14.800 --> 0:23:17.480 needs of kids. It can't just always be a fight. 0:23:17.920 --> 0:23:22.040 And what I'm saying is that like with the book giveaways, 0:23:22.240 --> 0:23:24.840 when you meet the needs of kids and families, when 0:23:24.880 --> 0:23:28.399 you create that connection, we create that community. Then what 0:23:28.560 --> 0:23:32.600 happens is the community storms for schools and make school 0:23:32.680 --> 0:23:35.720 centers of community. And when you do that, we save 0:23:35.840 --> 0:23:39.920 democracy because with our kids and with our public schools 0:23:40.119 --> 0:23:41.240 comes our democracy. 0:23:42.080 --> 0:23:47.040 Amazing as always, Randy Weingarten, I appreciate you. I appreciate 0:23:47.119 --> 0:23:50.880 the work that you continue to do with AFT, the 0:23:51.080 --> 0:23:53.879 voice that you give to teachers, and the time that 0:23:53.920 --> 0:23:55.960 you make for wok A. Really appreciate you. 0:23:56.520 --> 0:23:57.920 Thank you, Thanks so much. 0:24:00.240 --> 0:24:05.000 H That is it for me today, dear friends on 0:24:05.440 --> 0:24:08.959 woke A f as always Power to the people and 0:24:09.000 --> 0:24:12.920 to all the people. Power, get woke and stay woke 0:24:12.960 --> 0:24:13.359 as fuck.