Randi Weingarten: ‘People Don’t Know What Fascism Is’

SHARPTON: “Randy, speaking of Charlie Kirk, teachers nationwide are being threatened for expressing their opinions in the wake of the conservative activist’s killing. Oklahoma superintendent of public instruction Ryan Walters called for installing a Turning Point USA chapter in every high school. Now we’re learning Walters’ plans to resign at a job with a group devoted to limiting teachers unions influence. What’s your reaction? And is this what you’re talking about in this new book you’re writing, ‘Why Fascism Fears Teachers?’”
Weingarten: “So let me just say that — and I love that the HBCUs got this big donation, and we are rooting for the success of all the HBCUs, as well as all the community colleges and state universities, because we know that higher education is absolutely essential as an economic engine for young people. In terms of what happened to Mr. Kirk, we must all condemn, in the strongest possible ways, any political violence, any, period. And we must all work to de-escalate political violence. What’s happened with Mr. Walters is that he’s just trying to figure out other ways to escalate, not to de-escalate. That’s why when he went — after he quit his job and said, you know, basically made a threat to both Becky Pringle and I. And so we have to look at all of it, de-escalate and fight all of it.”
SHARPTON: “Is that what you’re talking about in the book?”
Weingarten: “So — exactly right. What I did in the book is talk about fascism and fascistic behavior. I made a warning. I’m a school teacher, not just a union activist. And what’s clear to me is that people don’t know what fascism is. They don’t know what authoritarian is. So what they see is they think we’re just being — or people, when they use a term, are just being political. We want critical thinking for not only adults, but for our kids. And what I wanted to do here is not only do a warning, but also what is the antidote. HBCUs are the antidote. Public education done well is the antidote. What teachers in classrooms are trying to create, a safe and welcoming environment, that’s the antidote to political violence. Let them have the resources and the supports to do those kinds of things. And what’s the biggest antidote? Kids really understanding and discerning fact from fiction. The understanding, as the Founders asked us to do, to actually make education the foundation stone of this country.”