When the president of Colorado WINS learned that the president of the United States might be targeting Denver next in his anti-immigration campaign of terror, she knew how she’d begin to mobilize. One simple thing Diane Byrne does is deck out her activists in matching T-shirts. Wearing union colors promotes team spirit and builds confidence, she says. The AFT Public Employees program and policy council, meeting in New York City Feb. 5-6, abounded with tips to help locals mobilize. PPC chair Gary Feist, president of North Dakota Public Employees, recommended finding members who can tell a personal story to draw media attention. With more media on the issue, he said, legislators will become more motivated to fix the problem.

Federal immigration actions are rapidly expanding, with deadly consequences. The killings of poet Renee Nicole Good and nurse Alex Pretti by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis have brought intense focus on the use of excessive force. An AFT webinar, co-hosted by AFT President Randi Weingarten and AFT Massachusetts President Jessica Tang on Jan. 28, featured experts on immigration and the law. It highlighted AFT resources and showcased how our locals are showing up to minimize fear and trauma.

Crowds of Spanish-speaking parishioners in Los Angeles milled about the historic Nuestra Señora Reina de los Ángeles Catholic Church grounds Jan. 7, browsing through free children’s books—both bilingual and in Spanish—and enjoying colorful slices of Rosca de Reyes—the traditional crown-shaped cake marking the Christian celebration of the three kings visiting infant Jesus.

More than 1,300 healthcare workers from PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver, Wash., and PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center in Longview, Wash., walked off the job and onto a picket line on Oct. 23. The workers will be on strike for five days. Respiratory therapists, radiology techs and maintenance workers in PeaceHealth’s Tech, Service and Maintenance, and Lab Professional bargaining units are members of the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, Local 5017. They are demanding improved patient staffing, living wages and a fair contract.

In Lynn, Mass., a high school girl wearing safety goggles shapes and solders copper plumbing pipes. A boy in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., manipulates gear cogs on a computer screen to engineer a competition robot. And in Newark, N.J., a teenager steps into an elementary school classroom—as teacher for the day.

Summer is upon us, and parents, children and teachers are winding down from what has been an exhausting and fully operational school year—the first since the devastating pandemic. The long-lasting impact of COVID-19 has affected our students’ and families’ well-being and ignited the politics surrounding public schools. All signs point to the coming school year unfolding with the same sound and fury, and if extremist culture warriors have their way, being even more divisive and stressful.

Attacks on public education in America by extremists and culture-war peddling politicians have reached new heights (“lows” may be more apt), but they are not new. The difference today is that the attacks are intended not just to undermine public education but to destroy it.