AFT honors a champion of women’s rights, strategizes to vote for justice

In a surprise to the recipient herself, AFT President Randi Weingarten received this year’s Women’s Rights award on Tuesday. Wearing suffragist-style “Votes for Women” sashes, Women’s Rights Committee Co-Chairs Jessica Tang (AFT vice president and president of AFT Massachusetts) and Karla Hernández-Mats (AFT vice president and president of the United Teachers of Dade) presented the award.

The award’s theme—“Dangerous Woman”—was inspired by an insult: Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Weingarten, “the most dangerous person in the world.” Embracing that label, the committee took inspiration from journalist Pat Mitchell’s definition of a dangerous woman. As Hernández-Mats put it, she is “not one to be feared but one who is fearless: a force to be reckoned with, unafraid to take risks in pursuit of a brighter and more just world.”

Tang praised Weingarten for championing women’s rights in the face of ceaseless criticism and even threats on her life. In turn, Weingarten praised Tang and Hernández-Mats for reinvigorating the Women’s Rights Committee, saying they have “revived it in a way it should be revived for a union that is majority female” and at a time when women’s rights are once again “in the crosshairs.”

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer congratulated Weingarten in a video message for “wearing ‘dangerous woman’ as a badge of honor,” and urged the women of AFT to get out the vote for Kamala Harris as our first woman president.

The ballot for a better life

The Human Rights Luncheon recognized the heroic work of several members and partners who received the Drum Major for Justice award, named for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s self-imposed mantle: “If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice,” he said during a 1968 speech. The recipients were Dorion Levy, student recipient; Karen Reyes, rising star recipient; and Kathy Chavez, legacy recipient.

Community partner awards were given to the A. Philip Randolph Institute, the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Pride at Work, the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement and the Coalition of Labor Union Women.

The luncheon also featured a panel discussion about how to move the country forward through the elections, because when it comes to Real Solutions for a Better Life—the theme for this year’s convention—voting is as real as it can get.

Moderated by Wajahat Ali, a New York Times and Daily Beast columnist and host of the Democracy-ish podcast, the panel—including Dominik Whitehead, vice president of campaigns for the NAACP; Sonja Diaz, founding executive director of the University of California-Los Angeles Latino Policy & Politics Institute; and Brandon Boswell, deputy director of the AFT Political Department—dove into strategies for victory in the coming election.

Panelists agreed that collaboration is crucial if we want to win the election for Harris and pointed out the importance of engaging Gen Z in the process. Schools and clinics are the most important places to find low-propensity voters and getting them into the electorate, said Diaz. Using trusted messengers to encourage potential voters will also be effective, said Whitehead, suggesting advocates be creative by reaching out at the barbershop, at church and in our own households.

Ali warned not to underestimate the power of grassroots organizing. “Retake the public square,” said Diaz.

Boswell sees this moment as an opportunity to drive the agenda and change the dynamics of the race. Others agreed: The presidential race is one between democracy or dictatorship, prosecutor or predator, representative of the future or representative of the past, said Ali.

[Chris Bartolomeo and Virginia Myers/ photos by Suzannah Hoover]