Our friends at Think Progress report:
Last night on Fox News’s Hannity and Colmes, right-wing radio host Neal Boortz claimed that teachers unions are “destroying a generation” and are “much more dangerous than al Qaeda.” He stated, “Look, Al Qaeda, they could bring in a nuke into this country and kill 100,000 people with a well-placed nuke somewhere. Ok. We would recover from that. It would be a terrible tragedy, but the teachers unions in this country can destroy a generation.” Sean Hannity agreed, noting, “They are ruining our school system.”
A link to the video of the show can be found here.
A number of our union brothers and sisters died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Some of the dead were members of our state affiliate, NYSUT. Others were first responders — police, fire, EMTs — who gave their lives in a valiant attempt to save others. In a number of cases, these responders were the literal brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, and sons and daughters of UFT members. They all died in the public employee union tradition of service for others. We take great pride in being part of that tradition, and of doing our best to continue it in our daily work.
There is no need to defend who we are and what we do against this slander. Like the blood libel, its utterance bespeaks volumes of those who employ it, not their ostensible targets. The more that this trope becomes common on the American right , and not simply on its ‘lunatic fringe’ [Remember former Bush Education Secretary of Education Rod Paige's quip that the NEA was a "terrorist organization?"], the more they cast shame upon themselves.
1 Comment:
1 phyllis c. murray
· Feb 23, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Teachers’ Unions Have a Place in Education
By Phyllis C. Murray
“Last night on Fox News’s Hannity and Colmes, right-wing radio host Neal Boortz claimed that teachers unions are “destroying a generation” and are “much more dangerous than al Qaeda.” He stated, “Look, Al Qaeda, they could bring in a nuke into this country and kill 100,000 people with a well-placed nuke somewhere. Ok. We would recover from that. It would be a terrible tragedy, but the teachers unions in this country can destroy a generation.” Sean Hannity agreed, noting, “They are ruining our school system.”
From: More Dangerous Than Al Qaeda? by Leo Casey
The destruction of a generation has never been caused by teachers’ unions in this country. If we look back in history, one would see it was the long-term effects of educational deprivation of African American students in Prince Edward County Virginia ( 1954-1959) which led to what has been dubbed as “The Lost Generation and The Crippled Generation by reporters and researchers.” Bagby
And it is sad to say, yet true, white students who could not afford to attend the segregated private schools were also a part of the lost generation and crippled generation. Therefore, this has had and will continue to have a crippling effect for generations to come.
Surely, if we look back even further we are reminded:” with the ending of slavery and the emergence of quasi-freedom, Negroes were only partially educated,the huge masses were left handicapped in the shadows of ignorance.” Dr. Martin Luther King 1964.
The American public school system has to be protected. Teachers’ unions must also be protected. Teachers’ unions advocate for all students. Many unions,like the UFT and AFT, have been historically in the forefront of the civil rights/ human rights movement. Therefore, teachers’ unions have a very special place in the matrix of public education because they help to ensure democratization in education.
Phyllis C. Murray
UFT Chapter Leader