‘We are the line’: Civil rights conference focuses on action

Book bans, immigration raids, militarized law enforcement, voter suppression and a fascist power grab by shameless elected officials—the reality of our world today provided a grim backdrop. But the stories of successful fights, unshakeable solidarity and determination to stand against injustice at the AFT Civil, Human and Women’s Right Conference Oct. 9-12 in Detroit ignited AFT members and allies even further, reinforcing the conviction that we will not just “hold the line,” but, as the conference title proclaimed, “We ARE the line.”

The convening of around 250 members and allies reached beyond inspiration (though there was plenty of that) and focused on action. Speakers offered examples of hands-on strategies that have worked for them; workshop leaders problem-solved real-world challenges; and participants used role-playing to practice political persuasion, protest and effective communication to move our causes forward.

AFT members are already in a powerful position to do this work, said AFT President Randi Weingarten. “We are in a situation that no one is in in the United States of America,” she said, describing the work AFT members do as educators, healthcare professionals and public employees. “We actually get to make a difference in the lives of everyone in America. Let us seize that power. And when we do, we will change hearts and minds.”

Stand tall, speak truth

In numerous panel discussions and plenaries, speakers described the extreme actions of the Trump administration that have made so many despair. “The administration is attacking our cities and communities with hateful rhetoric, Black Hawk helicopters and masked ICE agents yanking children out of bed in the middle of the night,” said AFT Executive Vice President Evelyn DeJesus. “Mass deportation is ignoring due process and making a mockery of judicial oversight. At the same time, the administration unilaterally slashes budgets and the government workforce, threatens universities, plays political favorites with disaster funds, and appears to be mounting a broad assault on the health and healthcare of the most vulnerable Americans: children, pregnant women and the poor.” Not to mention that kitchen-table issues—like the price of groceries—remain unresolved.

Texas AFT President Zeph Capo described the tear gas lobbed at an elementary school in Chicago and the 350 Texas educators under investigation—some who have been fired—for exercising their right to free speech after the death of Charlie Kirk.

There is the crackdown on transgender youth, limiting their healthcare and access to school sports, and the book bans that disappear LGBTQIA+ people and Latino, Black, Asian, Muslim and other marginalized people. Several speakers referred to New York Attorney General Letitia James, who just days before was indicted in a case widely seen as political retaliation for holding the president accountable in court—and a power grab by the executive branch over judicial autonomy.

But most of the discussions focused on how best to move forward and take action. As DeJesus said, “No one can do everything, but everyone can do something to create change.”

We must not be fearful, said Barbara Arnwine, president and founder of the Transformative Justice Coalition. “It is our obligation to stand up and to make this moment meaningful for the future. To not be moved and swept aside like debris but to stand tall, stand strong and speak truth,” she said. “They thrive on our being fearful. … They pray that we will forget who we are.”

To endure, Arnwine calls upon the ancestors. “I remember who I am because I carry inside of me a heart that is full of Harriet Tubman, a heart that is full of some Sojourner Truth, a heart that knows a Frederick Douglass, a heart that can feel the vision of a Fannie Lou Hamer.”

Eric Ward, executive vice president of Race Forward, says the far right is attacking now only because of the power civil rights activists have built: Their vitriol is a “backlash” after 60 years of civil rights gains. But after his own ancestors endured racial cruelty in this country as far back as the 1700s, and after they fled Kentucky in the early 1900s after a lynching, now is not the time to give up. “My family did not suffer these indignities to bring me to this very moment to fall on my knees,” he said.

In addition to inspirational history, there was a clear focus on young people. The conference hall was lined with artwork and writing by students from elementary through high school who are part of the NAACP’s Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO), and two passionate spoken word performances from students—one who shared the podium with her teacher—drew standing ovations. As one young performer said, “Truth has never whispered. Loud isn’t the problem. Silence is.”

Together we rise

Another recurring theme was solidarity. While the extreme right tries to divide, said Weingarten, “We bring together diverse populations of people, and we try to create an inclusive environment.” As she discussed her new book, Why Fascists Fear Teachers: Public Education and the Future of Democracy, she connected education with democracy. “In schools, we teach the habits of democracy, the habits of pluralism, the habits of being able to welcome the stranger, being able to educate kids to talk to each other” across different identities. “That is completely the opposite of what fascistic organizations want.”

In a rousing address, AFT Secretary-Treasurer Fedrick Ingram described the fight we are in as a marathon. The metaphorical race is getting harder, with federal agents kidnapping people off the streets, accusing them of immigration violations, and with state budgets emptied of funds for education, and the federal Department of Education gutted. But then there is hope: an election to work on, a law that might pass. Light at the end of the tunnel.

“Don’t be dismayed,” said Ingram. “We are running this marathon together. We’re going to win this fight. We are built for this. We’re not holding the line, we are the line.”

Immigration

David Huerta, president of the Service Employees International Union-United Service Workers West, knows exactly what that feels like. In June, he was attacked and detained for four days after protesting immigration raids in Los Angeles. In an emotional discussion, Huerta, a second-generation Chicano, described how his father, several uncles, brothers and cousins served in the U.S. military, and that seeing his people attacked hurts him deeply. “We have fought for this country. We belong here. We’re just as American as anybody else.”

He urged organized labor to “lean in” to fight against the immigration crackdown, against the extreme right and for fair elections.

Latino communities have faced turmoil before and found solutions. Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation founder Angie Reyes described the traumatic gang violence in 1980s Detroit, when she attended multiple funerals every month. DHDC asked gang leaders what it would take to stop the violence, and they said “jobs,” so they partnered with Hispanic business owners who began to hire the young people and change the community.

“Right now, we are dealing with a different kind of violence,” said Reyes: immigrant attacks that feel more like racism than immigration enforcement.

Becky Belcore, executive director of the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium, described a legal permanent resident who was detained at an airport as he returned from his brother’s wedding, and a woman whose adoptive parents did not know they had to obtain American citizenship for her when they adopted her at the age of 3 months, and who now, in her 60s, is facing deportation to a country she has never seen.

“People think it’s the Latinos, but when we’re talking about immigration raids, no one is safe,” said DeJesus. “This is an ‘us’ problem, not a Latino problem, not an Asian problem but an ‘us’ problem.”

On a more personal note, Cristina Jiménez Moreta, co-founder of United We Dream, talked about her memoir, Dreaming of Home: How We Turn Fear into Pride, Power, and Real Change. It is the sometimes painful, ultimately triumphant story of growing up undocumented. She was moved to write the story, she said, for all the immigrants who are still fearful and ashamed of their status. “Dreaming of Home is a guide for how we can move from fear and shame to power, and we do that through community and the power of organizing.”

Ready for action

Conference organizers were deliberate about turning inspiration into action, and the three training tracks provided practical tools participants could bring home and use right away. In Political Mobilization and Civic Power, they learned how to build a successful campaign, engage members and move policy. They practiced having conversations with elected officials and made plans for phone banks, canvassing and direct voter engagement.

The Communications and Narrative Power strand described how to craft effective messaging, leverage social media and utilize the best platform for an audience, allowing participants to role-play, even recording video as if they were at a protest.

The AFT’s MOVE (Mobilize. Organize. Vote. Empower.) track provided detailed information on the best and safest ways to peacefully protest and practice direct action, noncooperation and mutual aid. Participants spent time planning actions and then moved through a hallway as if they were protesters facing different scenarios they might encounter in real life.

It is exercising these muscles, and working together, that pave the path forward.

[Virginia Myers]