Last September, as schools started up after the summer break, some teachers at P.S. 220 in Queens, New York wore matching Tshirts to school, even though the teachers’ union urged them not to. You can probably see why the union said don’t do it.
Photo Credit: NYPD Facebook
Eric Garner was killed by the police in July. The Tshirts were a message. They were an ugly message.
Tensions between unions for city teachers and police officers are heating up over a United Federation of Teachers directive telling school employees not to wear T-shirts to work backing the NYPD.
At issue is an online message circulated earlier this week to UFT members cautioning them against a grassroots members’ plan by some to show the sartorial support for police on the first day of school — and that violators could be reported to the schools chancellor.
So the point of the Tshirt is to say “it’s fine to kill people in the process of arresting them for selling untaxed cigarettes, oh and by the way we don’t see race.”
The warning infuriated Patrick Lynch of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, already angry at UFT boss Michael Mulgrew for backing the Rev. Al Sharpton’s anti-police-brutality rally held Aug. 23 in the aftermath of the chokehold death of Eric Garner in July.
Angry why? Are the cops supposed to be completely beyond questioning?
In his own statement, Mulgrew said that while he encourages his members “to express their opinions,” Department of Education regulations “require school personnel to avoid distracting clothes and openly political statements when in school.”
Sound familiar?
Note that Mulgrew wasn’t telling teachers to wear “question the police” Tshirts.
At any rate, that photo creeps me out. P.S. 220 must be a horrible place to work.