The UFT’s Leo Casey, Vice President of All That is Good and Holy, ripped/mocked Jay Greene over some praise for Wal-Mart. And really, this is a biggie – so big that Casey reached into his bag of rhetorical tricks [it's a small bag, more like a change purse] to pull out “denizen of the ultra-right” and cite Greene’s “friends in the Bush administration.”
But what piqued my interest in Casey’s piece was this:
“It [Wal-Mart] is the leading corporate violator of U.S. child labor laws…”
Yes, asking toddlers to wield a chainsaw in one hand and a box cutter in another is an inappropriate multi-tasking request – one that endangers everyone in the vicinity and violates labor regulations. I couldn’t help but think, though, “What might taking advantage of children really look like?”
I scrolled down the Edwize page and found a picture that shows wonderfully how money-grubbing adults enlist very young children to advance their agendas – just like Casey warns us about!
Whoops. That’s not Wal-Mart.
That’s a photo from the Kids Protest Project, whose mission is:
“To protest the $450 million Department of Education budget cuts for 2008-2009, two members of the PA at PS 87 in Manhattan are trying to implement a citywide protest project.
Modeled upon the 3rd grade letter project at PS 87 (which resulted in a very positive news piece on WABC on May 14th and is available for viewing HERE), the plan is to have students (accompanied by their parents) from different public schools around the city arrive at Tweed Courthouse (DOE headquarters) each afternoon in June to deliver giant envelopes filled with letters written by their classmates protesting the budget cuts.”
Wal-Mart, that nasty, rotten, corporate fat cat – known to some of us in rural New York as a life-saver, a gas-saver and a $3,500-per-year-in-groceries-saver – takes heat from the UFT over child labor while elementary students are fearmongered into lobbying for political causes.
It’s just an example of young persons, our future, our greatest generation-to-be, exercising their democratic political agency, ya know.
JW, the first commenter on the Edwize piece, did a fine job:
“I totally disagree with using kids for protests, especially the young ones.
Imagine if this were a protest to fight for religious or political freedom: parents would be criticized for using their kids as crusaders in the campaign.
If you have trouble with that, imagine using kids to fight for religious freedoms when the very practices in question are illegal (like polygamy or female mutilation). Most people would vilify parents allowing their kids to participate in those kinds of events.
Using kids in any kind of political protest is the same thing. They are too young to intellectualize the message on their own and can ONLY be spouting the message of their parents. It’s DEAD WRONG.
The UFT should not encourage this sort of thing, or even allow it.”
As those British Parliamentarians say when their frontbenchers make them proud, “Hear hear!”
Mr. Casey responded to commenter Jonathan who admitted that he had mixed feelings about “organizing little kids” – a reasonable worry, no doubt:
“Jonathan:
I think the logic of your position would mean that children should not be taken to a church, synagogue or mosque until they reach the age of majority and are able to make autonomous judgments on their own. I think it is legitimate for parents to raise their children in a political tradition, just as they raise them in a religious tradition.
Leo”
And there, Leo, you’ve done the job for us.
It’s about time you admitted that the UFT is just one big church.
UPDATE:
Eduwonkette covered this as well – she’s got a few of the letters sent by our tiny ones. I get the feeling that the kids were coached a little, maybe even misled… judge for yourself:
Dear Chancellor Klein,
My name is Danny, and I am a student at P.S. 87. My brother is coming into this school next year. It will be my 5th year next year in this school.
The purpose of this letter is to stop you from taking money from the schools. Would you like it if you were in third grade and the chancellor was going to take money from your school? I hope this letter will change your mind.
Sincerely,
Danny
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