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Dear John,
When our friends at MoveOn asked to partner on a virtual call to talk about the ways a Harris-Walz administration will support public schools and the students they serve, I immediately replied, “of course!”
MoveOn is committed to public schools and the fight for democracy, and they know, like we do, that it takes unions and our allies together to do this work. AFT members from Pennsylvania and Minnesota, as well as Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates and National Education Association President Becky Pringle, will join this call to action.
The Trump-Vance agenda—censoring honest history, gutting public education, bullying modern American families, attacking workers’ rights to organize for dignity and fairness, and sowing fear and division in communities from coast to coast—is dangerous. Conversely, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have a plan to help people. They believe in public education. They are focused on lowering housing costs and stopping price gouging. And they want to lower healthcare costs and protect retirement security.
In this upcoming election, either we can turn the page and move forward, or we can go back to the culture wars that divide our communities.
But we can’t do it alone. We need you—trusted messengers to communicate who is standing with the people—so all of us can thrive.
See below for the email invite that MoveOn sent to its membership, and sign up to join the call this Thursday, Sept. 26, at 7:30 p.m. EDT.
Thank you,
Randi Weingarten
AFT President
---original email below---
Dear MoveOn member,
JD Vance is "disturbed" by teachers without children.1
Trump just presented a keynote address for Moms for Liberty—an extremist Project 2025 hate group focused on undermining public education and banning books in schools.2
It's clear to us and the public: Donald Trump and JD Vance simply despise teachers and educators.
If you, like most people, respect our educators, have fond memories of your childhood teachers, or have educators in your family—or maybe you are one yourself—you know that we have to fight back against Trump's Project 2025 plans to derail our education system entirely.
That's why MoveOn and the nation's two biggest organizations of educators and teachers—the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and the National Education Association (NEA)—are hosting an "Educators for Harris" call to make it clear to the public that teachers and educators matter now, more than ever—and who controls the White House in 2025 will be critical to the futures of educators, our schools, our students, and our families all across the country.
Join us on Thursday, September 26 at 7:30 p.m. ET for a virtual event where we will discuss the importance of this election for our education system at both the federal and state level. We will hear from teachers on the front lines fighting against attacks on our freedom to learn and discuss the dangers of a Trump presidency for our education system.
We will be joined by Randi Weingarten, President of the AFT; Rebecca "Becky" Pringle, President of the NEA; Stacy Davis Gates, President of the Chicago Teachers Union; and revered writer, poet and educator Nikki Giovanni, along with several teachers and educators speaking to their experiences.
Teachers and educators have been some of the top contributors to the Harris-Walz campaign, because they recognize the high stakes of this election for our education system.3 They have faced right-wing attacks directly—from efforts to privatize our schools, to the relentless book bans, to the efforts to demonize what educators can and cannot teach about our shared history. Educators and teachers, and so many others, have too much to lose in the event of a Trump-Vance administration. There's too much at stake in this election for any of us to sit on the sidelines.
This event is an opportunity to hear from former and current educators who are directly impacted, and an opportunity for us to come together, and hear even more about the stakes ahead of this crucial election. RSVP for "Educators for Harris" and join us on Thursday, September 26 at 7:30 PM ET/6:30 PM CT.
Thanks for all you do.
–Nakia, Toni, Cheryl, Gabi, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "What did JD Vance say about teachers who don't have children of their own?" USA Today, August 28., 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/197580?t=7&akid=407881.58729010.rD3R3N
2. "Trump amps up culture war agenda with Moms for Liberty appearance," Axios, August 30, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/197581?t=9&akid=407881.58729010.rD3R3N
3. "Teachers See 'A+' Allies in Harris-Walz Ticket," Newsweek, August 8, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/197582?t=11&akid=407881.58729010.rD3R3N
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