Members stand with Minneapolis
Among the hundreds of members participating in the protest are educators from Claremont International HS in the Bronx, New York City Lab School for Collaborative Studies in Chelsea, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt HS in Borough Park, Brooklyn.
Hundreds of UFT members joined thousands of demonstrators in Manhattan on Jan. 23 to show solidarity with Minneapolis-St. Paul, following the early January fatal shooting of a Minnesota substitute teacher amid a brutal crackdown on students, educators and immigrant communities.
The UFT’s Delegate Assembly passed an emergency resolution on Jan. 14 to support calls for a National Day of Action, with UFT members wearing black and posting on social media during the school day, taking part in protests after school, and urging their Congress members to keep ICE out of schools and to protect immigrant communities.
Julie Cohen, a teacher at Urban Assembly Maker Academy HS in lower Manhattan, carries a homemade “Protect Our Students” sign and marches with other UFT members.
UFT members joined other labor unions and activists in Union Square Park for the rally and demonstration sparked by the Jan. 7 killing of teacher Renee Nicole Good, marching from 14th Street to 23rd Street. They paused to show their displeasure outside the offices of Palantir, which is developing ICE software to identify and track noncitizens; Home Depot, whose stores have become hunting grounds for ICE; and the apartment building of Jeff Bezos, whose company he founded, Amazon, provides ICE with data storage services. Marchers’ chants filled the frigid air, including, “When students are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”
Randi Boxer, a pre-kindergarten teacher at PS 152 in Brooklyn, attended the rally with colleagues from other schools to support the teachers, students and families in Minneapolis and throughout Minnesota. “We disagree with what the government is doing with regards to ICE, and we want to make our voices heard and make sure that they know that ICE has no place here,” she said.
Sam Multer, a teacher at PS 282 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and Leni Abraham, a physical therapist who serves multiple schools, carry signs in solidarity with Minneapolis.
Teacher Karen Miller, the chapter leader at PS/MS 57 in East Harlem, said she was already motivated to stand with Minneapolis, but she was further moved after learning that on Jan. 20, just days before the rally, ICE had detained a 5-year-old child along with his father shortly after returning home from preschool. On Jan. 24, a day after the march, ICE fatally shot another Minneapolis protester — Alex Pretti, a U.S. Veterans Health Administration nurse.
“The ICE threat feels really real to us,” said teacher Brian Curry-Hartmann of MS 297 in Manhattan as he carried a sign reading, “ICE: WE’VE GOT OUR EYES ON YOU!” The West Village school has a large population of immigrant students, said Curry-Hartmann, “and we want to protect our students and their families.”
“Teachers inherently have compassion for other human beings and want to make the world a better place,” said Brenda Ricchetti, a teacher at PS 290 in Ridgewood, Queens. Ricchetti said she wants to live in a world where she doesn’t have to worry about her three children being taken by ICE, and she brought her 7-year-old son with her to demonstrate “that it’s OK to stand up for something you disagree with.”