CHICAGO—Resistance to the Trump administration was emphasized Wednesday at a town hall meeting at the A. Philip Randolph Institute’s annual educational conference here.
Founded by labor unionist A. Philip Randolph and civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, the APRI is the senior constituency group of the AFL-CIO and has several chapters across the United States.
The conference began amid the backdrop of Texas state representatives fleeing for cities like Chicago in order to block a GOP-led congressional redistricting effort encouraged by President Donald Trump.
“Look at what the president of the United States is doing. Just this week, the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, we are having a coup in Texas… because Donald Trump believes he is entitled to five more seats,” said Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers. “It is the people who vote for Congress, not the executive branch feeling entitled.”
Weingarten was the opening speaker for the conference’s panel discussion, titled “The Power of Women In the Movement, Past, Present and Preparing For Our Future.” The event began with a pre-recorded video of civil rights activist Myrlie Evers-Williams congratulating the panelists and emphasizing the “important part that women have played throughout the years in keeping the movement moving forward.”
In her remarks, Weingarten criticized Trump’s recent firing of the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, ICE raids “disappearing people” and imposing a “police state,” Trump stripping 1 million federal workers of their collective bargaining rights, cuts to SNAP benefits and Medicaid, and more.
Weingarten encouraged people to follow the example of people in South Korea who, late last year, protested then-President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law.
The people rose up
“When the President called martial law, thousands of people led by a labor movement went out on the streets and said, ‘No, we are not going for martial law. We are free people,” Weingarten said. “I ask you, are you willing to fight for freedom? Are you willing to stand up on the streets? Are you willing to stand with others?”
“If we do that, we will turn this around. And if we turn this around, we can’t stop. We have to make this world and this country a beacon for working people, each and every one of us,” Weingarten said.
The panel discussion brought together APRI President Clayola Brown; Lois Carson, president of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees; Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association; and Dr. Donna Mitchell, with the Laborers’ International Union of North America.
“It’s a hot mess right now,” said Melanie Campbell, president of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, who was the moderator for the panel discussion. “This moment we’re in, we’re not threatened that it’s going to happen, we’re in it. We’re living in a fascist state.”
Campbell asked the panelists how people should respond “seven months into the madness,” which prompted discussions on getting young people involved in politics, encouraging people to register to vote, and joining and organizing mass demonstrations.
“It’s time to save democracy y’all,” Brown said. “Now, a lot of you have been doing a whole bunch of work. It’s more than what we normally would do; sit at a table and register people to vote. All of that’s important, but what’s even more important is standing up and letting our voices mean something. We were built for this.”
In an interview with People’s World, Brown said she’s upset at the Trump administration’s disregard for legal norms.
“The freedom to do wrong and do things that are against the law seems to be made acceptable,” Brown said of the Trump administration. “We have marched too far and bled too profusely to even think that that’s a fair thing to be happening right now.”
Brown added that she is encouraged by the action of young people during the second Trump administration
“I’m proud of all the young people that are stepping up. They’re the ones that are organizing these marches,” Brown said. “Young people are not taking it sitting down and their involvement in making the movement stay alive is broader than anyone is talking about.”
The A. Philip Randolph Institute’s 54th annual education conference runs from August 6 – 9 at the Hilton Chicago hotel.
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