Harris Has been Pro Education

Joe Biden just picked Kamala Harris to be his running mate. This is an exciting and historic moment at a critical time when our nation is desperate for leadership. While all of the women Biden was considering are incredible leaders, we are confident that Harris will be a real partner in governing. I’m excited for her to become our nation’s first female vice president. She will help Biden solve America’s immediate crises: a global pandemic, an economic crisis and a long-overdue reckoning on racial injustice. Kamala Harris has a long history of supporting public education. She has consistently engaged with our union and our members, from her time in state politics in California to her recent campaign for president. She’s been committed to fully funding public education; she supports the right to organize; and she has a history of fighting for voting rights, LGBTQ equality and women’s rights. When our members went on strike in Los Angeles in 2019, she was one of the first national figures to publicly support our members. And in this long-overdue moment of racial reckoning, her leadership on the Justice in Policing Act of 2020 is what we need. I have no doubt the right wing will, right away, start attacking Harris with sexism, racism and probably even outlandish conspiracy theories. We want to immediately show our support for the Biden-Harris ticket. We can’t let the right-wing attacks of Harris on social media go unchecked. Can you share this graphic with a few quick facts about her record to counter the onslaught of racism and sexism? Click here to share the graphic on Facebook, and click here to share the graphic on Twitter. To overcome the crises facing our nation, we must defeat Donald Trump—making this the most important election of our lifetime. Instead of deploying the public health tools at his disposal, Trump has downplayed the threat of the coronavirus, dismissed the advice of our nation’s top scientists and public health experts, and jeopardized students and educators alike in the rush to recklessly and unsafely reopen school buildings. Trump has fanned the flames of prejudice and made the divisions in our country much worse: the Muslim ban, the border wall, calling white supremacists “very fine people,” and blaming Chinese people for COVID-19, to name just a few examples. And as unemployment insurance expires, protections for renters run out, the Postal Service is starved, and schools and states faced draconian cuts, Trump has refused to work with Democrats to pass a real relief bill. Four more years of this will tear our country apart. We’ve got a choice between two campaigns—and two visions for America—that couldn’t be more different. The Biden-Harris campaign has offered a hopeful vision for America’s future. Joe Biden is the deeply decent, experienced, caring and competent leader America needs in this moment. He and Kamala Harris are the team we need not just to confront the enormous crises we face but to reimagine a fairer, more just nation that prioritizes America’s workers and families. That means strengthening public education, enabling unions, ensuring healthcare for all, and restoring our democracy and our sense of decency and justice. Imagine a president guided by facts and science, determined to lead with solutions instead of scapegoating; a president who listens and respects the voice and experience of educators, health professionals and other workers; who will confront racial injustice rather than fan the flames of racism; who will strengthen public education rather than tear it down; and who will cherish our environment and make our economy work for working and middle-class people rather than the rich and powerful. Biden will fight alongside us for a better life and a better future for all who call our country home. We have 84 days left to do this. And I know that, together, we can elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Let’s keep organizing, Randi Weingarten AFT president