Teacher's Union President Calls on Members to Follow Al Sharpton into a Confrontation with Police

You Know You Miss this Do.

Seems the puppet master of NYUST aka Michael Mulgrew who is also Randi Weingarten's handpicked successor of the UFT in NYC is having himself quite a media misstep dance party these days. He took the mic at AFT's Randi coronation after a  Chicago teacher completely dismantled Common Core for the abusive testing machine that it is. Mulgrew was so incensed by this anti Core talk that he kind of went off the rails raving at some mysterious straw men whom he claimed tried to take his standards away from him. In the end he promised anyone who took something of his would get a punch in the face and have their head shoved in the dirt. Wow. Naturally, the union thug detectors went off for miles around and anyone with an axe to grind against teachers and or unions had a field day re-playing Mighty Mike's pugilistic threats and clucking their tongues in shocked disapproval of such talk coming from a guy who claims to have once taught English when he wasn't playing Twister on a drafting table. 

Now Iron Mike has come to the fore with another half baked proposition, this time he mentions no martians or space ships but if he had I think I'd feel a little better about his plans. Yes folks, Michael Mulgrew President of the UFT would like all of his constituents to link arms and march through the streets with none other than the famous dog turd of Wappinger Falls his own self, The Rev. Al Sharpton. The Al is going to get to the heart of these cops who kill citizens. And it's a shame that he's positioned himself here because what happened to Mr. Garner  in NYC over selling "loosies" on the corner should never have happened and that's the truth. And whatever happened in Ferguson Missouri is too serious and too flammable for the likes of Sharpton to be sniffing around it with a lighter. Teachers are people people and we'd likely agree in principle that something needs to be done to keep citizens, especially non white citizens from falling victims to cops, especially white cops. 

But to hop in bed with a shiftless lowlife of Sharpton's caliber is where many of us draw the line. I am for social justice and I am no fan of police brutality against people of any color. The sticking point is that doesn't put me in Al Sharpton's back pocket and it sure as hell would never land me in any march which is essentially an anti cop march led by a serial firestarter like this guy. Do we need to run through his rap sheet of instigating racial enmities and filing false claims? Thing is when this guy does this stuff he's gotten people killed. The Crown Heights riot in 1991. Freddie's Fashion Mart where a protestor started a fire that killed 7 people. Tawanna Brawley? Really? We need to ally ourselves with this guy and alienate ourselves from cops who, like us, belong to a union and have their own struggles?

In all of the blowback, yes, the police union isn't taking too kindly to the idea of being called out by teachers, someone made the comment that this isnt' Mulgrew's fight, that he has his own pressing issues he should be handling. And to that I say he should have been encouraging NYSUT to endorse Zephyr Teachout or Howie Hawkins in their Quixotic tilts against anti teacher, anti union Andrew Cuomo. But no, Mulgrew's leanings are exactly the opposite. He is a Cuomo supporter and if he had his way he'd have endorsed Prince Andrew on the spot. And what does that tell me about the state of union leadership in New York State? Even though he's only the President of NYC's teacher's union it's commonly understood that NYSUT does as UFT dictates. So we won't be endorsing anyone to run against Cuomo. We will be endorsing some extremely shady characters, some with mob ties, some with charter school ties and some who simply defy all basic logic.  As a union NYSUT has no plans to stand up for its members in any significant manner or gesture. And the guy who tells NYSUT what to do has decided a bottom feeder like Al Sharpton should lead us into confrontation with unionized police because... Well, just because, I guess, because maybe if you don't agree you might get punched in the face. Friends we deserve better.