Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Crowd Laughs as Chicago Teachers Union President Talks about Killing the Rich
Townhall.com ^ | January 8, 2013 | Kyle Olson

Posted on 01/08/2013 10:45:29 AM PST by Kaslin

The Chicago Teachers Union is not just about looking out for its members’ interests. The union wants to fundamentally change America, too.

That shift occurred when the radical Karen Lewis was elected as its president two years ago. She’s best known for mocking U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s lisp and for taking on - and defeating - Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in the district’s first teachers’ strike in a generation.

CTU leaders have been on a victory lap of sorts since the September strike, with union activists seeing themselves as protectors of union power during a time of membership decline and education reform at the state and local level.

They’ve also taken on the role of social activities, fighting for causes like the Occupy movement and gay marriage, which have nothing to do with education.

Some union leaders have called for violence and other radical tactics to achieve social goals.

When Lewis appeared at the Illinois Labor History Society’s “Salute to Labor’s Historic Heroes from the History Makers of Today,” she didn’t disappoint the crowd. She threw gasoline onto the fire of class warfare, and even mentioned mob killings of wealthy Americans.

“… Do not think for a minute that the wealthy are ever going to allow you to legislate their riches away from them. Please understand that. However, we are in a moment where the wealth disparity in this country is very reminiscent of the robber baron ages. The labor leaders of that time, though, were ready to kill. They were. They were just – off with their heads. They were seriously talking about that.”

Some in the audience laughed and clapped at her remark.

“I don’t think we’re at that point,” Lewis laughingly replied, without specifying when “that point” might arrive. “And that’s scary to most people. But the key is they think nothing of killing us. They think nothing of putting our people in harm’s way. They think nothing of lethal working conditions.”

She then used schools without air conditioning as an example of “lethal working conditions.”

SEE THE VIDEO HERE.

The true labor leaders of the “robber baron” age would probably roll over in their graves and remind Ms. Lewis that she and her colleagues have it quite good.

Big salaries with an average income in the $70,000 range. Generous benefits and pensions. Limited work days and nine-month work years. What are these people complaining about?

Lewis also used the occasion to mock “job creators.”

“Which side are you going to be on? So are we going to be on the side of justice? Are we going to be on the side of a living wage for every person? Or are we going to be on the side of people whose entire mentality is based on a lie. ‘Job creators.’ Really? Then why have we lost so many jobs?”

With such a cynical, un-American attitude coming from their union president, does anyone really expect Chicago teachers to introduce students to the many virtues of the free market system, or the nobility of taking a risk to become an entrepreneur and therefore a “job creator”?

As domestic terrorist-turned-professor Bill Ayers acknowledged, leftists have the power in our schools and classrooms, and they’re taking full advantage.

The Chicago Teachers Union is the tip of the spear in terms of “social justice unionism.” It’s a union led by far-left radical activists who are determined to alter American society through our schools and children. Advocating for the interests of teachers is simply a means toward a larger and nastier goal.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Front Page News; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS: billayers; bustunions; chicagoteachersunion; democrats; karenlewis; liberals; liberalviolence; libindoctrination; socialistdemocrats; unioncorruption; unions; unionviolence
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-67 next last

1 posted on 01/08/2013 10:45:41 AM PST by Kaslin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
"But the key is they think nothing of killing us."

Projection much, Mr. Union Man?

2 posted on 01/08/2013 10:48:32 AM PST by ClearCase_guy (Nothing will change until after the war.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
Get a good look at these Chicago "teachers".

And the MSM has the gall to slime the Tea Party as radical extremists.

3 posted on 01/08/2013 10:49:42 AM PST by Servant of the Cross (the Truth will set you free)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ClearCase_guy
It would interesting (though dangerous) to be present at a speech like this and completely go along with the speaker, but add a twist:

"Yeah! Kill 'em! Kill the rich! Off with their Heads! And then we'll kill the blacks!"

I think a lot of people would be smiling while listening to a rant like that -- right up until the kicker. Then they would suddenly be shocked that violent, hatefilled extremist had suddenly shown up out of nowhere.

4 posted on 01/08/2013 10:51:57 AM PST by ClearCase_guy (Nothing will change until after the war.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: ClearCase_guy
Projection much, Mr. Union Man?

As self-fulfilling prophecy, it seems to me. They've all done an excellent job of removing any last qualms or crises of conscience I might have had.

5 posted on 01/08/2013 10:55:09 AM PST by Noumenon (One individual with courage, determination and a rifle can change the course of history.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Sigh. Angry fat black woman rant.


6 posted on 01/08/2013 10:56:58 AM PST by miss marmelstein ( Richard Lives Yet!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Sow the wind, lardcore activists. Sow the wind.


7 posted on 01/08/2013 10:58:27 AM PST by Psalm 144 (Capitol to the districts: "May the odds be ever in your favor.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Just let a normal person say something like that and he’s immediately condemned.


8 posted on 01/08/2013 10:59:05 AM PST by I want the USA back (double standard)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Karen Lewis is probably raking in 500K a year for doing nothing more than acting like an azzhat. She’s rich.


9 posted on 01/08/2013 10:59:42 AM PST by ILS21R (Everything is a conspiracy. No? You're living in one.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Servant of the Cross

The dyke brigade.


10 posted on 01/08/2013 10:59:46 AM PST by jersey117
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Did she talk about eating them, too?

11 posted on 01/08/2013 10:59:58 AM PST by liberalh8ter (If Barack has a memory like a steel trap, why can't he remember what the Constitution says?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Karen Lewis isn't one of the "starving" that's for damn sure!

12 posted on 01/08/2013 11:01:19 AM PST by kcvl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Servant of the Cross

How about a map of these people’s adressess? We want to remember these fools if/when the war goes hot.


13 posted on 01/08/2013 11:02:15 AM PST by grumpygresh (Democrats delenda est; an EMP confined to DC would be much appreciated)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: liberalh8ter

ugh...

There goes lunch. Check please.


14 posted on 01/08/2013 11:02:58 AM PST by ILS21R (Everything is a conspiracy. No? You're living in one.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

“She then used schools without air conditioning as an example of “lethal working conditions.”

A far more accurate example of “lethal working conditions” is having a white teacher in most black classes in most Chicago schools.

Welcome to the Pooblik Skrewl Collective - goonion operated for the benefit of dues paying teachers rather than students.


15 posted on 01/08/2013 11:04:12 AM PST by GladesGuru (In a society predicated upon freedom, it is necessary to examine principles."..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Karen Lewis isn't one of the "starving" that's for damn sure!


16 posted on 01/08/2013 11:05:29 AM PST by kcvl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

:: Do not think for a minute that the wealthy are ever going to allow you to legislate their riches away from them. ::

So, who are these “wealthy” that you speak of Ms. “Teachers” Union President. Would they be the ones that employ you; that pay your wages for a days work? Whoa re thse folks? Aren’t they the TAX PAYERS? Even the single mom with 4 kids with a part-time job pays taxes. IS she who you speak of?

:: They think nothing of putting our people in harm’s way. ::

So, just how dangerous is it in your classroom and, since it may be lethal, why do you continue to expose the children of tax payers to such danger?

Karen, you are ignorant and self-indulgent.


17 posted on 01/08/2013 11:07:17 AM PST by Cletus.D.Yokel (Bread and Circuses; Everyone to the Coliseum!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: liberalh8ter

oh

my

“get in me belly!!!”


18 posted on 01/08/2013 11:08:27 AM PST by silverleaf (Age Takes a Toll: Please Have Exact Change)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Karen Lewis, Street Fighter

Her dreadlocked hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and her nails were painted green with silver sparkles (she changes the color often). The room was littered with souvenirs: A glass block etched with the words “Bitch Brick” rested on her desk, and a pair of blue boxing gloves hung on the wall, a gift from a friend after Lewis told the Chicago Tribune she was going to buy some following the announcement of the mayor’s education team.

A Halloween mask of Rahm Emanuel’s face was tacked onto a shelf in front of Lewis’s desk, staring straight at her and leaving little doubt that she considers the mayor her chief opponent. Yet Lewis marveled that she and Emanuel don’t like each other more. “I don’t understand it,” she said, shaking her head. “We should be best friends. We have way more in common than we don’t.”

Shortly before he took office in May 2011, Emanuel invited Lewis to a dance performance and dinner at Henri, the upscale French restaurant across from Millennium Park. She said they had the same tastes—they both drank malbec and ordered the lamb—and talked about their shared love of ballet. They are also both Jewish. Raised Lutheran, Lewis converted in the early 1990s when she was “looking for something spiritual” and says she was drawn by the “idea that you could question God.”

The evening was meant to establish a working relationship. But the conversation took a turn when, according to Lewis, Emanuel said that 25 percent of students in CPS—or nearly 100,000 kids at the district’s current enrollment—were “never going to make it and that he wasn’t going to throw money at the problem.” The comment came to light a year later when Lewis talked about it in an on-camera interview with local NBC reporter Mary Ann Ahern; Emanuel denied it, calling the story “totally false.” The episode likely damaged whatever trust they had established.

http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/November-2012/Karen-Lewis-Street-Fighter/


19 posted on 01/08/2013 11:08:49 AM PST by kcvl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ILS21R

She really does look like Jabba, doesn’t she? LOL


20 posted on 01/08/2013 11:09:10 AM PST by liberalh8ter (If Barack has a memory like a steel trap, why can't he remember what the Constitution says?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-67 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson