Made for the moment: AFT joins CBCF at ALC

Washington, D.C., is accustomed to power throughout a city full of movers and shakers. But the kind of power at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Annual Legislative Conference, Sept. 24-28, is especially intoxicating, full of the vibrant energy of Black members of Congress working together to make change along with more than 10,000 participants from all 50 states-unionists, civic leaders, creatives, healthcare professionals, activists, advocates and so many more.

From left, Richard Fowler, Angie Nixon, Jolanda Jones, Everett Kelley and Fed Ingram.

AFT members and leaders were a big part of it all, immersed in panel discussions, presentations, exhibits, networking and plenty of star power. The AFT sponsored four conference events: a town hall on worker power, education and democracy; an HBCU panel discussion; a member update on legislation and education; and a fireside chat with AFT President Randi Weingarten discussing her new book, Why Fascists Fear Teachers: Public Education and the Future of Democracy.

The AFT also sponsored the CBCF community breakfast and health fair at Shiloh Baptist Church, an event that provided essential services and supports to students and families in the community, and distributed 500 books as part of its Reading Opens the World campaign.

Kicking it off with real talk

CBCF President Nicole Austin-Hillery kicked off Wednesday's panel discussion, "Worker Power to Protect Education, Economic Opportunity and Democracy," praising educators for inspiring young people and helping develop future leaders. "I know we have been going through trying times," Austin-Hillery admitted, "but we are here in Washington this week … to get down to business and be changemakers." Calling on the theme of the conference, she repeated it: "We are made for this moment."

AFT Secretary-Treasurer Fedrick Ingram agreed, proudly describing how Black people have carried education and excellence from Africa through the Middle Passage, honoring a heritage that reaches far beyond the United States. "When we lost everything that we knew, we learned an entirely different race culture," he said. "We stole education where we could."

But that education is being threatened. "They know that an educated populace is a voting populace that knows better," said Ingram, referring to President Donald Trump and his followers. Ingram also emphasized the essential role unions play, enumerating the ways they have worked hand in hand with the civil rights movement. "It has been unions that have fueled this locomotive of democracy," he said.

While foundational public services are being targeted, the "bureaucrats" Trump complains about are actually people like the nurses in the Department of Veterans Affairs and staff who operate Social Security offices so people can access their monthly benefits, said another union man, American Federation of Government Employees President Everett Kelley. "These are services you deserve as American people," he said.

Kelley also pointed out that 20 percent of the federal workforce is Black, making any attack on federal workers-like the massive layoffs enacted this year-"blatant racism." How to change the trajectory of destruction? Kelley believes the power is not in Congress, but with the people.

Randi Weingarten discusses her new bestseller.

That means we must educate one another and meet people where they are, said Texas state Rep. Jolanda Jones, who helped pass a bill that promotes teaching local politics "so that when our kids graduate, they're educated voters." Jones was among those who left the state to prevent a quorum vote on racist gerrymandering in Texas; she called the act "our Montgomery bus boycott moment."

She also talked about meeting people where they are, addressing immediate needs rather than talking about higher concepts like saving democracy. Her own experience illustrates the point: When electricity bills went unpaid, Jones' mother lit candles, and when the house tragically burned, she worried over where the children would sleep. People who are "living a triage life" are not interested in talking about democracy, said Jones; they need more immediate assistance.

Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon agreed and described the bookstore she opened when Florida started banning books; along with books, she includes access to free emergency contraception and other services. "We've got to be about mutual aid and agitation at the same time," she said. "We have to meet the moment."

The promise of HBCUs

At a luncheon discussion Sept. 24, participants underscored the importance of historically Black colleges and universities, including many that are AFT affiliates. Lezli Baskerville, chief executive officer of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, laid out the landscape of the 106 HBCUs and 80 predominantly Black colleges and universities NAFEO represents.

"Founded as education liberation institutions," HBCUs have long been "on the forefront of social and economic justice movements," she said, through Jim Crow and the civil rights movements. They continue to play a crucial role because, "Today is where we've been before, on steroids."

On a more personal note, Ingram described how profoundly his HBCU experience at Bethune-Cookman University affected him. "It was a place where I found ME," he said. "I found people who looked like me, who didn't have anything, trying to be something." Today, HBCUs graduate 46 percent of all Black business executives, 85 percent of Black doctors, 75 percent of Black veterinarians and 50 percent of Black teachers.

"Our numbers don't say 'second tier' at all," said Myles Hollingsworth, a Howard University student and president of the NAACP New York State Conference Youth and College Division.

One reason is that faculty at HBCUs follow up with every student, regardless of their pre-college preparation. "Other colleges and universities don't accept people where they are," said Nandi Riley, a professor at Florida A&M University and secretary-treasurer of the Florida Education Association. "The research is very clear that students on an HBCU campus feel like they are being supported to succeed," agreed Mary Cathryn Ricker, executive director of the Albert Shanker Institute and a former AFT executive vice president. And, added Riley, the principle of accommodating every individual extends beyond the classroom. "We just have to educate our community."

A love letter to teachers

In another session, AFT President Randi Weingarten talked about her book, which recently hit No. 10 on the New York Times bestseller list. As Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates said, Weingarten has created a national dialogue with Why Fascists Hate Teachers.

From left, Myles Hollingsworth, Mary Cathryn Ricker and Nandi Riley.

"Of course fascists hate teachers," Davis Gates said. "We engage an electorate that is not yet of age. We give them an experience of an America that respects the dimensions of our humanity and gives them an opportunity to hope, to dream and to find their way into who they are supposed to be to uphold our civic participation."

In a conversation with media commentator Richard Fowler, Weingarten stressed how crucial it is to fight against authoritarianism and for communities and the public education systems that support them. "Nobody's going to give us something unless we fight for it," she said.

And regarding education, saving it is critical. "They actually understand better than we do the importance of education," she said of those on the far right. "They fight against it because they understand if kids are critical thinkers," they will push back against misleading public policy that harms working families.

Weingarten said the Democratic Party should be more involved in defending public education and fighting in the culture wars. Her book uses the word "fascism" as a warning, but it also describes the brave acts of educators like the school librarian who protested against inequitable schools in Virginia, where buildings were so decrepit students used umbrellas in the classroom on rainy days. That librarian became a plaintiff in Brown v. Board of Education.

Weingarten talked about the power of collective bargaining and how the Chicago Teachers Union has been able to bolster community schools and protect immigrant children with contract language. She is intentional about lifting up stories of everyday teachers who care for and inspire young people, and she called her book "a love letter to teachers and communities."

"We are an antidote to the hate and the fear and the undermining that is happening in America right now," said Weingarten.

It was an apt description of the ALC, where so many discussions, events and presentations inspired and energized participants for the long fight ahead.

[Virginia Myers]