AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File
United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) has always been one of the more radical teachers unions in the country, and during the coronavirus lockdowns they’ve taken their agenda to new extremes. In the summer of 2020 they presented the school board with a list of demands that seemed more like a ransom note instead of a good-faith effort at finding a way back to the classroom. They’ve partnered with Black Lives Matter-LA and turned students into BLM activists in an effort to defund both the LAPD and LAUSD school police. On March 1 UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz blasted Gov. Gavin Newsom’s school reopening plan, claiming it was “propagating structural racism” after accusing white and Middle Eastern wealthy parents of “driving the push behind a rushed return,” and the union was accused of racially targeting a LAUSD mom of Afghan descent because she had been an outspoken advocate for getting kids back in the classroom.