First lady Jill Biden touted President Joe Biden’s record on abortion and called for expanded gun control during a Friday speech at the annual convention of the American Federation of Teachers.
“I’m proud of what Joe’s done in these last two years: from historic investments to reopen schools, to addressing the mental and academic needs of our students, to signing the bipartisan gun bill and defending women’s reproductive healthcare, to delivering on the promise of loan forgiveness for public servants,” Biden said.
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS CONVENTION PROMOTES CRT, ABORTION, AND GREEN ENERGY
The first lady, who has long spoken publicly about her work as an educator and holds a doctorate of education from West Chester University, praised the nation’s second-largest teachers union and its president Randi Weingarten for answering “this call to service,” which she called “an act of hope.”
“Teaching has become so much harder,” Biden told the union’s members. “But you don’t quit. … You tell your students that change is possible, even though you know that the young women looking up at you with those hopeful eyes have lost rights that they don’t even understand yet. You turn down the news on TV telling you about people who want to stop you from doing your job, put your shoulders back, and focus on your students.”
The first lady’s speech at the AFT’s annual convention came just weeks after she gave a similar speech to the assembly of the nation’s largest teachers union, the National Education Association. The agenda for both meetings included votes on numerous resolutions demanding a slew of progressive policies, including legal abortion, opposing bans on critical race theory and gender theory in the classroom, gun control, and student loan forgiveness.
The bulk of the first lady’s Friday speech centered on touting the priorities of the administration, which she said included gun control, expanded abortion access in the wake of the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, and student loan forgiveness.
“The president that you elected is working every day to keep his promises — but we need partners who will join him,” Biden said. “Because we believe that AR-15s, the weapon that tore apart 19 children and two teachers in their classroom, have no place on our streets.”
The first lady, who teaches part-time at a Virginia community college, called on the union’s members to vote, but added, “We need to remember that voting is the bare minimum.”
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“We have to get involved in the local governments that decide how cities plan their budgets and protect their students,” she said. “We have to speak up for justice and equity. All of us have a ‘teacher voice’ for when things go off the rails — and now is the time to use it.”
