Unity District Rep. Shares Ageist Stereotypes with Chapter Leaders, Ridiculing Retiree DA Members

You'd think our "leaders" would know better. They don't.

Norm Scott just reported on this—”UFT District 9 Unity Caucus Rep (and Future Geezer) Aqeel Williams Mocks UFT Retiree Delegates with memes during DA - And He was On the Clock” I was surprised, but not pleasantly. I mean, really? Should UFT employees, in their official capacity, share a laugh over ageism?

Is it just this DR, or is this the sort of conversation Unity members have when we aren’t around? We can only conjecture as to that, but we know they take us for fools, given Mulgrew’s election-inspired, but essentially meaningless opposition to the health care debacle he and his Very Smart People created.

I’ve had to work pretty hard to get old. Sometimes it’s no fun. For example, I’m a cancer survivor. Perhaps the UFT group, the one that posted the hilarious photos you’ll find on this post, would be amused by that. That said, as reprehensible as their chat appears, I wouldn’t wish cancer on any of them. (Take my word—it was nothing to laugh about.)

Recently I needed surgery, and I was out of commission for a few weeks. Actress Mae West, who lived to be 87, said, “Getting old is not for the faint of heart.” She’s quite right. As you age, you’re likely to be surprised with things that, well, you’d rather not even hear about.

I try to be understanding with things my students say about my age. I mean, they’re kids, and may not know better. Maybe I can teach them to be more understanding. I can ask them if they’d want people speaking about their parents or grandparents that way.

I expect better from adults. I expect better from union leaders. Sometimes, though, I’m disappointed.

FYI, Unity “leaders,” asking questions is a sign of curiosity and intelligence. Furthermore, as someone with a lot of union experience, I knew the answers to the questions you saw fit to ridicule, despite how old I am. Activism is sorely lacking in our union, and insulting those new to it is not how we expand it.

As a teacher, I appreciate and encourage questions. I find it reprehensible that you’d discourage, let alone ridicule them. The really stupid question is the one you don’t ask, e.g., “What could happen if people saw the juvenile memes I sent to UFT chapter leaders?”

Yet that wasn’t all you saw fit to do. The above message says we’re old, so we’re the Golden Girls. A laugh riot, ain’t it? That, evidently, reflects the wit and wisdom of a UFT District Representative, carefully chosen by Dear Leader Mulgrew. The late James Eterno, who knew the UFT Contract better than anyone I’d ever met, was rejected as DR. So was talented young writer Nick Bacon. Bet me dimes to dollars it wasn’t because they hadn’t joined Unity.

One of my pet peeves is young teachers who tell me how lucky I am to be retired—teachers who don’t take into account that I’m 30 or 40 years older than they are. But I understand. They hope to get older and retire some day. You’d think everyone would.

You’d be wrong, though. Some think aging merits ridicule. They have no evident appreciation for older people, let alone the fact that they are bound to become older people (if they’re lucky). Forget about whatever wisdom older people may have accrued over the years.

It’s sorely disappointing that Unity sees fit to place such individuals in leadership positions, and even more disappointing that they’d use an official group to have a laugh about their older colleagues. It sounds very junior high school to me, yet these people are on our union payroll. Are they a step above your garden variety bigot? Hard to say.

What if I were to send cute memes to a group ridiculing race, nationality, religion, language, gender, country, or sexual orientation? Would Unity offer me a district rep. gig? Or is this particular chat okay, as, you know—”locker room talk?” Doesn’t the guy have First Amendment rights?

Of course he has those rights. The thing is, though—this was not locker room talk. This wasn’t a chat with his high school buddies. It’s a vehicle that he uses for official union business. This is improper workplace conduct. I don’t know about you, but I’m sick and tired of being judged for things that I am, as opposed to things I choose to do.

I was the only Jewish kid in my neighborhood when I grew up. I learned there was more to being Jewish than I thought. My peers sometimes shared details. Among other things, I had killed Jesus. I was going to hell. There were a whole lot of awful things, things kids heard from their bigoted parents, that they saw fit to share with me.

Once, I asked my father, “Why can’t we be Catholic, like everyone else?” His response was to send me to Sunday school for years. It was only after I had a Bar Mitzvah that I, as a man, supposedly, was allowed to drop it. I’ve never been particularly religious, but I’ll never forget what it is to be hated simply for being who I am.

I became an ESL teacher, and I’ve met kids from every corner of the earth. I love this job. It’s been a great privilege to know these kids and hear their stories.

One thing that irritates me, a whole lot, is when I hear my newcomers stereotype others. It might be kids in their class. It might be the LGBT community. Whatever it is, it puts me in a rare lecture mode. I tell them there are a whole lot of people who hate us, all of us, for being what we are, and we have to be better than that.

I call their homes. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. Once, as a new teacher, a student’s father told me his son told him I was a Jew, but I was one of those good Jews. I said nothing. I liked his kids, but didn’t think anything I said would change the mind of a 50-something guy who’d lived with these prejudices his whole life.

I don’t really know what to say about a grown man who finds retirees so uproariously funny because, and I quote, “You’re old.” Is this the sort of person Unity thinks should lead us? Is it acceptable that he and a group of chapter leaders indulge in juvenile stereotypes while ostensibly representing educators? Is it acceptable that he does it while on the clock? What the hell else do they discuss in this group?

I don’t expect an apology. As far as I can tell, Unity has never apologized for anything. I fully expect ageist employees to keep their union positions. After all, it’s not like they did whatever the hell Amy Arundell did. Maybe Amy just made them look bad. (I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to have to compete with her.)

Norm has been getting interesting glimpses of what Unity does when they think we aren’t looking. We’ve seen how they plan for the RTC meetings. And we saw them Wednesday night, all toned down, trying to appear that they don’t hate us and everything we stand for.

Don’t get me wrong—they’re absolutely entitled to hate us and everything we stand for. They are not entitled, as official representatives of the UFT, to send out messages to chapter leaders that stereotype us. I’ve been teaching people from all over the world for over 30 years, and I’m here to tell you that no stereotype has any validity whatsoever.

Anyone who says otherwise is unfit to teach children, let alone lead a union of people who do.

Related: Jeff Kaufman on ICE Blog,

Norm Scott at Ednotes Online