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March 15, 2025 01:09-02:03 - CSPAN
53:55
Rally Against Dismantling of Education Department
Participants
Appearances
m
mazie hirono
sen/d 03:22
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Speaker Time Text
unidentified
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C-SPAN, Democracy Unfiltered.
Earlier today, we covered a rally with Education Department employees, advocates, and members of Congress on the impact of Trump administration cuts to the agency.
This is about 50 minutes.
Okay.
Got it?
Good.
Good morning.
Welcome, and I want to thank everyone for coming out this morning.
My name is Portia Allen Kyle, and I have the honor of leading Color of Change.
We're here this morning with our partners, with brave civil servants, those who have served our country nobly, who have served our children, worked saving our public schools.
I myself am a product of public education.
And I won't talk long, but I do want to share a quick story about the importance of this moment of education, of the pathways and opportunities that it provides, and why this administration's attack on the Department of Education and on civil rights is so critical for both today and our families in the future.
My grandmother graduated from Southern University in HBCU in 1943.
And at that time, the only job that she could get in a school was cleaning it.
It wasn't until the Civil Rights Act and protections against discrimination and requirements to hire and look broader where she was finally able to get a job as a teacher years later after trying.
And that job as a teacher allowed her to put her six children through college.
That job as a teacher allowed her to live her life until 96 in the comfort and the benefits of retirement because that is what public service, civil service, and government jobs provide for families.
It's stability, it's opportunity.
One of her children, my uncle, was in the class at UC Davis Med School that would later become the topic of the case in the affirmative action case, Backe v. Board of Education, Board of Regents.
It is civil rights and it is affirmative action and it is the legacy that DEI, that diversity, equity, and inclusion, that access to opportunity, that anti-discrimination protections.
It is that legacy that we are fighting for.
It's that legacy that brings us here today to protect our kids, to protect our public schools, to protect our resources, because we know that education is the cornerstone of a functioning democracy.
We know that education is the pathway to opportunity.
And many of the folks standing behind me today, our educators, our civil servants, right, have taken it and made it their life's work and their life's mission to expand that access and that opportunity for generations and hundreds and thousands of kids across the country.
And so we thank you for that fight, for that energy.
We thank you for that service.
We are here to stand by you today against this administration.
We are here to stand by you today against these fights.
We are here against these firings, these mass layoffs.
We are here to stand by you today as a reminder that you are not alone.
We have elected officials who are here today.
We have teachers.
We have advocates.
We have NEA and our union members.
We have career public servants who have had their livelihoods stolen, not because of performance, but because of vengeance.
Not because of waste or fraud, but because of attacks on opportunity, because of an agenda that is seeking to undermine civil rights and our infrastructure, because of an agenda of neo-segregationists that are attempting to rid black people, people of color, people with disabilities, LGBTQ folks from public life and from our history.
That is why we are here.
And we're here to fight.
And so this fight isn't the beginning.
This rally isn't the beginning.
But it sure is important.
And doesn't it feel good to stand out on the side shouting for what we believe and hearing how many folks passing by believe that right along with us?
And so we're united by this idea that government should serve people.
That we're going to continue.
We're only a month and a half in.
We're going to be here.
We're going to keep fighting.
And without further ado, I'd like to bring up Senator Maisie Hirono.
mazie hirono ▲ ● ▼
Aloha, everybody.
For sure, you're fantastic.
So we're in the midst of chaos.
Trump thinks that he and his pal Musk think that they can take a chainsaw to government agencies and they've been slashing and burning and firing thousands of people for no cause.
And just recently, of course, they got to the Department of Education.
But we are all here to fight back because this is no time to be sitting back thinking that other people are going to fight the battles for us.
No, we are in it together.
And you know what?
I am a product of our public schools.
I want you to know that I came here as an immigrant.
I didn't speak a single word of English.
There was no ESL back there.
And the school that I went to cobbled together some kind of a program where I could learn English.
And I don't remember what my first word was.
I don't think it was an F word, but I think that would be appropriate right now, don't you think?
So they created a lunch program because we also didn't have school lunches, yet another thing that the federal government provides to so many of our kids across our country for whom that meal could be the one meal that they can count on every day.
And so school lunch is really important.
And then when I was in college, I paid for part of my college education through work study, yet another federal program.
So I stand before you in full understanding of how important our education is, how foundational our public schools are, how it enabled me to stand with you today as we fight back on all this chaos.
To say that Trump disrespects workers, that hardly suffices.
So, what he is not expecting is all of us using our voices and fighting back because IDEA is important.
There are millions of kids throughout our country who need that kind of special education.
The millions of kids who are in Title I schools.
In fact, most of the schools across our country are Title I schools, at least in Hawaii they are.
And I would think in the rest of the country, whether you're in a blue state or a red state, Title I schools that help kids from poorer families, you know, get an education.
And so I know that you guys know how important the federal Department of Education is.
And even though we have a president who would like to get rid of the Department of Education, who says to his Secretary of Education, I want you to work yourself out of a job, we know how important education is.
We cannot sell, like him, sell the future of our children in our country down the river so that his billionaire buddies can run our country and get their tax breaks.
So this is just the beginning.
I am expecting that parents are going to figure out what's going on and the fact that their children's futures are being stolen.
They will raise their voices.
We need to help them do that.
And I will stand with you.
Believe me, I represent a hell of a lot of Democrats all across the country, not to mention in Congress, who stand with you.
So it's good to be with all of you today.
Mahalano iloa.
unidentified
Aloha.
Thank you, Senator.
And next to the stand, the wonderful Kim Anderson.
That's right.
Let's go, Kim.
Good morning.
My name is Kim Anderson.
I'm the Executive Director of the National Education Association, and I stand here proudly representing America's educators.
We have educators here from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Kansas, and many more.
Let me say to you, Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk, you will not take your wrecking ball to America's public schools.
We will stand in your way.
The chainsaw and the wrecking ball is coming after the 50 million students that go to our public schools.
90% of America's children go to public schools, and 95% of students with disabilities go to public schools.
I'm looking at this building and I see empty windows.
I see empty windows with people who should be at their desks helping students achieve their full potential.
Dedicated public servants.
Dedicated public servants.
You know, these cuts, this isn't just about a department and a building.
This is about federal streams of money that help students live into their full potential.
This agenda is about cutting funding and shipping it to private schools.
It is about vouchers.
Make no mistake about it.
It is about dismantling, dismantling public education so that children cannot get what they deserve.
Over 400,000 educators will be lost if this agenda goes through.
The cuts will be devastating.
They are irresponsible.
It is a travesty.
Our children are our nature's nation's future.
America's public schools provide the foundation for an informed citizenry.
We can't have a functioning democracy without informed citizens.
America's public schools form the foundation and the fuel for our economy.
We can't prosper and continue to be the greatest country on earth without public education.
America's public schools form the glue for small, for strong communities, for inclusive, welcoming, safe communities in which everybody can be who they want to be.
This isn't some hypothetical agenda.
These are real things happening right now out in America.
We heard from an educator in Georgia who works with students with disabilities, helping them transition out of high school.
Her job was eliminated two weeks ago because the funding was cut.
We heard from the former teacher of the year in Kansas, who also teaches students with disabilities.
They risk losing 4,000 educator jobs if the Department of Education and its programs are gutted.
We heard from an educator in Maryland who told us, and a mom who told us that she fears her child losing critical services like mental health assistance that her child desperately needs.
I'm here to ask you: what happens when a child with dyslexia doesn't get the speech and language pathology needs that they deserve?
What happens when the child gets sick and there's no school nurse to help them get better?
What happens when parents lose income or possibly their jobs because the after-school program closes down because there isn't Title I funding?
What happens when a child goes to the bus stop and there's no bus coming because the school closes?
What happens, Secretary McMahon?
What happens?
Who's going to fill in these gaps for America students?
Who?
Well, I'm here to tell you: we, the educators, parents, communities, Americans across this country, whether you are in a blue state or red state or purple state, no matter what your ideology is, the American population supports public education and we're going to fight for it.
We are going to fight for what works and we're going to fight for our children because there's no amount of billionaires who are going to rob and cheat and steal America's future.
We are fired up.
Next to the podium, Brittany Myatt.
Hi, thank you, Portia, for the introduction.
For legal purposes, I'm speaking here not as a government employee or on behalf of any government entity, but invoke my right to free speech under the First Amendment.
As an individual heartbroken by the current circumstances facing the American educational landscape, as an individual who was once a student that found safety at school when home wasn't, as an individual who became a teacher to try to foster that same safety for students with disabilities, as an individual whose voice as a teacher was too small to make a difference in a broken system.
And now as a civil rights attorney whose heart is broken by the system, once again, heartbroken, silenced, unprecedented.
Finding a single word to speak about from this platform I now stand at.
Impossible.
For the students whose voices are now silenced, I'm heartbroken.
For the recipients whose guidance is now abandoned, I'm speechless.
Civil rights should not be a 21st century debate.
Yet today I stand here with the deepest heartache because in 1964, civil rights were memorialized in law, yet are infringed upon today as the country applauds.
I love this country and all of its freedoms and pray for God to show up because we definitely need him.
I see him at work in all of your tears and cry in solidarity today with terrifying fears.
I fear that students whose differences used to be celebrated now cower in fear that their uniqueness is hated.
I fear that students with different colors of skin will not be heard when they're screaming within.
Within the walls of their communities, homes, and schools, who are now leaving them voiceless, it's just simply cruel.
whose leaders and adults within their lives no longer have the power to end their strife.
Excuse me, huh?
We got you. Thank you.
These students and families are struggling to face the world that hate continues to create.
These schools have lost a valuable asset as OCR had become a familiar facet.
To the important work that's done day in and day out at schools across the nation, serving diverse students throughout.
To the students learning and growing up now, I wish I could take away your heartache somehow.
I want to say sorry to these students today and that the adults leading you have left you betrayed, have left you betrayed to fend on your own without enforcing the laws designed to protect your homes.
Designed to protect your homes, your schools, your communities.
Your rights as learners should come with impunities.
Impunities to be your very best self and learn from our example instead of just books on the shelf.
Students should be free to be who they are without the fear of harassment that brings so many scars.
Harassment, discrimination, and bullying abound as the adults meant to fight these are now nowhere to be found.
I stand before you today and apologize for leaving this OCR family for unspoken reasons.
I'll continue to fight for your God-given civil rights and wish this simple poem brings about new light.
New light to students who long to be heard.
New light to schools doing as they legally should.
New light to those like me who are now grieving this statutory institution we never expected to be leaving.
God bless this country throughout these dark days and give her students the courage to face this unending hate.
We love you, dear students, and we'll find a way to make your voice heard at the end of the day.
Thank you, Brittany.
And let's hear it one more time for our public servants who have served so gracefully.
The impacts of this fight are broad.
I'm bringing up next to the podium the formidable leader of the American Association of People with Disabilities, Maria Towne.
Thank you, Portia.
Good morning.
As Portia mentioned, my name is Maria Towne and I serve as the president and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities.
But before I was ever in this role, before I could even dream of being in this role, I was a disabled kid in public schools getting special education services because of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that is enforced by the U.S. Department of Education.
I was a student getting adaptive physical therapy at school.
I was a student getting mental health counseling at school.
I was getting developmental assessments at school.
My first experiences with inclusion, my whole idea of what was possible for myself as a disabled kid who saw no one else like me in my community, happened because I was included at school.
And at 10 years old, I knew about something that Secretary McMahon still does not.
I understood my rights under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
The reason that I can stand before you today and figure out how to make this moment accessible for me is because I started advocating for myself in my individualized education program meetings, my IEP meetings.
Today, there are more than seven million students who receive special education services in schools.
And it's not just students in K through 12.
The Department of Education makes career and technical education accessible and inclusive.
College education inclusive.
We also cannot forget about vocational rehabilitation that makes it possible for disabled people to get jobs after we have gotten inclusive education.
Because so many of our systems in the United States are underfunded and under-resourced, we place the burden on our schools and educators.
Think about everything I just went through with you.
Mental health counseling, physical therapy, education, vocational training, all at the Department of Education.
All of it.
We should not be tearing this critical institution down.
We should be building it up.
And we should be building up all of those people who work within it, from career federal servants to our teachers to our paraprofessionals, our administrators, and most importantly, most critically, our students.
Democracy relies on a solid education.
Opportunity relies on an education.
Our humanity at its core relies on a robust education system.
And so with that, I'll say thank you.
Save the U.S. Department of Education.
Save our kids.
Save our communities.
Well said.
Way to go, Marie.
Thank you.
We've heard from our civil servants.
We've heard from our union leaders.
Next up, let's hear from a teacher from Baltimore County Public Schools, Vernon Faines.
Hello, everybody.
As said, my name is Vernon Fains.
I'm a proud art educator in Baltimore County, Maryland at Pinegrove Middle School.
It has been difficult to process all that's been happening so fast and senseless.
You can't help but think about what public schools will look like when the Department, well, if the Department of Education is dismantled and destroyed.
And then there is Linda McMahon, the dishonorable Linda McMahon, who has no idea about the potential impact of the executive orders and what it means to the Department of Ed, to our students and our families.
She has no idea what it's like to be an educator and about the potential impact it will have on us.
She does not understand what our students' needs and challenges are.
She has no idea about what it's like to be a parent of a student with different abilities who sends their best to us every day and entrusts us to make sure that they're provided the resources and educational experiences their children deserve.
Like the parents of my student Harley, who has autism spectrum disorder and has an IEP.
How can we support this learning without the resources?
How can we support him without the resources and the staff that we need in our buildings?
She has no idea what it's like for an educator to take the time to get to know what our students' needs are, what their strengths are, what barriers are there in order to create goals that would provide them the best path to success.
Like David, who has a 504 plan and relies on reading supports, with the future of Section 504 at risk, he could potentially lose basic civil rights protections that Section 504 provides.
Imagine the services that would be denied to him.
It would be devastating to the educational program of any student needing accommodations.
She has no idea what it's like to be a paraeducator or support professional, the backbone of our institutions.
They are essential and often overlooked as a workforce.
These dangerous decisions from the White House will negatively impact their roles and their professional development.
Like my friend Miss Patty, who is a paraeducator in my building.
She would do whatever it takes for however long it takes to support the diverse needs and diverse strengths of every student in our building.
She herself is a parent whose son has different needs and is passionate about her work.
It would be horrible to lose her.
She has no idea, nor does she care to learn about students like Jaden, Who experiences severe anxiety and has specific sensory needs.
Or about Allie, who has limb differences.
It would be difficult to be able to address her individual needs as a student who can thrive with proper funding that allows me to purchase specific adaptive art tools to support her growth.
Because McMahon has no experience in a classroom, she simply wants to grab power and wield privilege to weaken our public education system.
Limiting access to the appropriate curriculum for all of our students and supports for millions of children.
So let us do what we have done historically as human beings when faced with injustice or a crisis.
We connect, we collaborate on purpose and disrupt the process.
And to teach McMahon what value the Department of Education brings to all of us and what really matters to our public school students, education, and their families.
And we really need to encourage her to look for a more just way to work herself out of a job.
One that does not harm our most vulnerable students and their families.
Let's make sure this current administration does not continue to steal valuable resources from public education, from our schools, and weaken equal access to much-needed services and supports.
Because all students belong to all of us, but some just need a little bit more.
Thank you.
Next up to the podium, Cindy Benavidez from Aki, the accountability movement.
Buenos Dias.
Good morning.
Thank you to the organizers of this rally for joining in this fight.
I'm Cindy Benavidez, the founding executive director of AKI, the accountability movement.
And I'd like to share some words for our community in Spanish.
But before I do, silence is complicity.
Silence is complexity.
Nuestra means simple.
En un momento como este.
El silencio es complicidad.
Si te quedas debrasos cursados ni entras que nuestra communidad es attacada por el beneficio político de otros.
Tu silencio permite que la cueldaze multiplicé.
No importa porquiembotaste.
Cuandominemos atrás a este momento.
Vamos accuntarlia nuestros yjos sob el día que defendimos a nuestras familias, a nuestros estudiantes con valentía.
No vamos a agachar la cabéza repentidos y a vermantenido el silencio.
Permitiendo que la cueldad ganes.
Nosotros somos América.
We are America.
Education is the foundation of opportunity in America.
Education is a basic human right.
The reckless decision to dismantle the Department of Education and cut half of its staff is a direct attack on millions of students, particularly vulnerable children and other marginalized communities who rely on federal protections, funding, and oversight to access a quality education.
We know that this is a tactic.
We know that they seek to keep our communities oppressed.
We see it.
You see, lack of access to quality education exacerbates poverty, negative health outcomes, and equality.
This move threatens decades of progressive civil rights enforcement, bilingual education, and equitable resources for our nation's students.
Education is the foundation of opportunity in America.
By eliminating the very institution designed to uphold that promise, this administration is turning its back on American families, particularly students who already face systemic barriers in our schools.
This decision will exacerbate educational inequities, stripping funding from under-resourced schools and weakening accountability for states and local districts, jeopardizing the future of an entire generation that will hinder our economic growth in our nation.
We refuse to be silent while this administration dismantles that right.
Aki will fight alongside our students, parents, educators, advocates in that community to resist this dangerous action and demand that our leaders uphold the fundamental promise of education for all.
And you see what this means?
Department of Education cuts equals losing federal protections for students.
Department of Education cuts equals many after-school care programs that will be lost.
Department of Education cuts equals even fewer teachers.
Department of Education cuts equals less financial aid for college students.
Department of Education cuts equals school funding cuts when schools are already struggling.
We are living in a dangerous time in America.
And our children will read the history of this moment.
And we will proudly say to them, we are standing up for you.
And I hope that they hear here and all the way to the White House.
Who has the power?
We have the power.
Who has the power?
We have the power.
Who has the power?
We have the power.
We will not let them forget that this country was built on the backs of the people.
the people and we are and today is a reminder It is the people who have the power.
Next up, Amy Lloyd from All4Ed.
Buenos dias, caché.
Good morning, everybody.
What a day.
What a moment.
My name is Amy Lloyd.
I am the CEO of Alpha Ed, which is a national nonprofit organization that works from the classroom to Congress to strengthen and improve our education system.
But for the past four years, I worked in this building right here.
I've been the assistant secretary for the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education here at the U.S. Department of Education.
I started my career as a proud public school teacher.
I am the daughter of two public school teachers in CTE and in special education.
Thank you.
I just lost my rebel alliance pen.
But you know, the spirit still lives in me.
For over 25 years, my work in education has been dedicated to leveraging education as the springboard in our nation to opportunity, to economic and social mobility.
We all believe, everyone right here believes, that education transforms lives.
We know it does.
It's the key to unlocking the American dream.
It is the way that we all can live lives of purpose and joy and connection and prosperity.
And my organization, Alfred, recently polled over 4,000 Americans across our country, and we know we the people do not want to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education.
We the people, we share a deep commitment as a nation to our public education system.
We the people are firmly and fully committed to career-connected learning through career and technical education, career and college pathways, our incredible community colleges, adult education, and lifelong reskilling and upskilling for all of us.
We know education is workforce development.
Education is economic development.
Right?
Career-connected education provides some of the most meaningful, hands-on, hearts-on, minds-on learning opportunities and experiences for our students to develop and imply in practice the knowledge, skills, and credentials that our country needs to power our future.
And this is a beautifully bipartisan space.
This is a really rare thing to find in our nation right now, a place where we all agree.
And when I was at Ed, I loved working across the aisle and across the nation to advance career, technical, and adult education because this is a space that we have common ground in.
Even Secretary McMahon believes in this space, supposedly.
But rather than slashing and burning the agency, supporting our education system to strengthen our workforce to build our economy through career-connected learning, we should be lifting up the agency right now.
We should be investing, investing in the teams right here at the U.S. Department of Education and increasing funding for our states to invest in this critical space.
But that is not what's happening right now.
The team that I had the honor of leading for the past four years was phenomenal.
They cared so deeply about every single state, every single community, every single student in our nation.
And I got to travel across our country.
I did site visits to really lift up from and learn from the work of career and technical education and adult education.
And from rural Kentucky to Seattle, from rural Arizona to Manhattan, I heard from the field how much they appreciated the career civil servants at the U.S. Department of Education.
They were the heart of the relationship that helped the field strengthen their practice.
My former colleagues here at the U.S. Department of Education built meaningful relationships with state and education leaders.
And the amazing public servants at Ed behind us and those who are no longer at the department, these aren't anonymous bureaucrats.
These are real people.
These are real people.
These are the go-to's for our education system.
They're the trusted supports for our education leaders.
They're real people who work very hard every day to make a real difference in the lives of our students, our educators, and our communities, and they've given their lives to public service.
And today, right now, less than a third of the talented, patriotic, caring team leading my office in career, technical, and adult education, less than a third remains here at the department.
Over two out of three of my former team are not working here right now today.
And this attack on our public servants started first with forced administrative leave for diversity, equity, and inclusion training, which strengthens our schools, frankly.
And they took that training during the first Trump administration.
Now they're not working.
The second round was two rounds of basically forced buyouts made under duress and threat of maybe losing your job anyway.
And the third round happened this week with the massive firings that we all learned and heard about.
Entire divisions focused on state and local capacity building, educator development, innovation, excellence, data transparency, quality, ensuring that we build and have the evidence base for we know what works and organizational effectiveness all have been cut.
And I think about this overall with the agency.
What does it tell you about the directionality of our nation's education system when this administration is firing those who are fighting discrimination, those who are upholding the law, those who are ensuring people can access higher education and have opportunities to grow and thrive, and those who ensure that we have the transparency to know how our students are doing and we can build that evidence base and share it for what works for our kids.
This is really grim.
This is a moment.
But what really keeps me up at night is how the 11.4 million students who I got to serve pursuing career and technical education in middle and high schools, in community and technical colleges, and the 1.2 million adult learners who were really like overcoming such challenges to return to education were pursuing opportunities to better themselves.
They are the ones who are ultimately bearing the brunt of what this administration is doing to cut the department and to undermine our public education system.
These are our high school students in South Bend, Indiana who are literally studying aviation and building a plane and learning to fly it.
These are community college students in Kern County Community College in the San Joaquin Valley who are leading in carbon recapture technology and building a dynamic workforce that feeds, fuels, and defends our nation.
These are adults who our education system has failed previously but are courageously persisting to return to earn their high school diploma or equivalency and get credentials so that they can get a better job, launch a career, and support their families.
This is our nation's future, people.
Like this is our nation's future.
Healthcare workforce, our technology workforce, our future educators, our advanced manufacturing workforce.
Like this is all of us.
And our nation's future hangs in the balance right now.
I cannot underestimate how important this moment in time is.
Education is not a political plaything.
It is the future of our nation.
And I have so much gratitude for everyone in our federal workforce, but especially those here from and at the U.S. Department of Education who, like, right?
Like, my heart is with the many who have lost their jobs.
I really truly appreciate those who are courageously persisting, remaining at Ed, and doing all they can to continue to support excellent, equitable, and innovation education for all of us and our students.
And I think about the very principles of our nation, and our democracy hangs in the balance.
Education is our future.
It's our workforce, it's our democracy.
And we must continue to stand for Ed and stand for life, liberty, equity, and education for all.
Thank you, everybody.
And for our final speaker, I'd like to bring up Carrie Rodriguez from the National Parents Union.
Good morning, everybody.
My name is Kerry Rodriguez, and I'm the president of the National Parents Union.
I represent 1,800 pockets of parent power in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, with about 1.8 million families as part of our network.
But my most important job in my whole life is being Matthew, Miles, David, Max, and Dylan's mom.
I have five sons.
Three have IEPs, one has a 504.
They are in 6th through 11th grade.
And I am here to say that Donald Trump and Linda McMahon, you have picked a fight with the wrong mamas.
Because what is happening right now, this is not reform.
This is not efficiency.
This is sabotage.
And we will have none of it.
Let's talk about why this building exists.
Because I think some people fail to remember why we have a U.S. Department of Education.
Because when I hear people say education should just go back to the states, I have to ask, back to what exactly?
Back to when six-year-old Ruby Bridges had to be escorted by federal marshals because a mob of state officials and even the governor attempted to block her from classrooms after a federal court order?
Back to when federal troops had to be sent in just so the Little Rock Nine could go to school because the state government ordered the National Guard to close their doors?
Is that what we're going back to?
Because that is when, that is why the federal government had to step in.
Because when states were left in charge, they let black and brown kids be terrorized rather than educated.
It took a Supreme Court case, Brown versus Board, to get segregation ruled unconstitutional in 1954, right?
But guess what?
That ruling meant nothing without enforcement.
Because the southern states didn't just wake up one day and decide, oh, well, now we're going to treat black kids fairly.
No, parents had to keep suing for justice.
In Alexander versus Holmes County Board of Education in 1969, parents had to sue again because schools were still dragging their feet on desegregation 15 years after Brown versus Board.
So let's also talk about children with disabilities who had to sue.
Before federal oversight, millions of kids like mine with disabilities were locked out of public education entirely.
Parents had to sue Pennsylvania Arc versus Pennsylvania in 1972, Mills versus Board of Education in 1972, just so our kids could learn.
Parents are not new to this fight.
We have been fighting for generations to gain these protections so that we would not bankrupt our families and rob our kids of their childhood, their precious childhood stolen because states refused to recognize our rights.
And you guys want to send education back to the states.
Is this what we mean when we say making America great again?
Is this the again?
Donald Trump trying to shut down the U.S. Department of Education, the one agency that enforces these civil rights protections, so we can go back to gutting public schools and letting states do whatever they want again.
This is not a dog whistle, friends.
We hear, we hear loud and clear what you are trying to do.
So I am here to say we are not going back.
We are moving forward and parents need to be paying attention because if they take away federal education protections, your kid could be the next kid locked out.
So, in the words of the great governor of Maine, Donald Trump, you will see us in court.
And so, I want to give a big thank you.
Once again, my name is Portia Allen Kyle.
I have the honor of leading Color of Change.
I want to give a big thank you to all of you who showed up today in support of our students, in support of our civil servants, in support of families, in support of our nation.
And we do a little thing at Color of Change.
We organize and joy.
Don't worry, I'm not going to talk long.
But, you know, a couple of our speakers have talked about Linda McMahon needing to work herself out of a job.
And we often say in organizing that we want to organize ourselves out of a job.
I too would like not to need to do this work because all of our kids can go to school fed, supported, where your zip code, where your address doesn't determine the trajectory of your life, right?
Because we're living in a world where Dr. King's dream has been achieved.
I would love to organize and work myself out of a job.
This isn't it.
Before we leave today, I want us to do a little something.
I want us to turn all together, say thank you, give a huge congratulations and an applause for all of those who are still holding down the fight inside this building.
Continue to hold your electeds accountable.
We will continue to fight.
We will continue to show up and we will continue with this energy.
Thank you.
That was fantastic.
You put the job in there.
How are you?
On Monday, at 9:30 p.m. Eastern, our interviews include Arizona Democrat Yasemin Ansari, the Democratic freshman class president.
I am the proud daughter of two Iranian immigrants.
So my parents came here in the 70s.
My dad came to go study civil engineering at the University of Oregon, always with the intention of going back home.
My mom has a little bit different of a story.
When the revolution hit Iran in 1979, they had grown up in a monarchy in Iran, but with more freedoms.
A theocratic regime, the Islamic Republic, took over, and my mom's family was at risk.
Her father was imprisoned for supporting the prior government and being anti-the new regime.
And so she fled Iran by herself and was able to come to the United States.
Watch new members of Congress all next week, starting at 9.30 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN.
And on Friday, starting at 8 a.m. Eastern, join us on C-SPAN 2 for a special 24-hour marathon, featuring more than 60 of our exclusive interviews with the newest members of the 119th Congress.
Marking the recent presidential election, C-SPAN's student camp video documentary competition challenged middle and high school students nationwide to create short videos with messages to the new president, exploring issues important to them or their communities.
Child protective services is important to protect kids from danger.
We are here to deliver a message to the president.
Homelessness needs to be prioritized now.
It is important for state and local governments to be given power and a voice to help support the communities they serve.
Nearly 3,500 students across 42 states and Washington, D.C. produced insightful and thought-provoking films.
Through in-depth research and interviews with experts, participants explored critical issues like the climate, education policies, health care, gun violence, and the economy.
Our panel of judges evaluated each entry on its inclusion of diverse perspectives and overall storytelling.
Now, we're thrilled to announce the top winners of Student Cam 2025.
In our middle school division, First Prize goes to Eva Ingra, Sophia Oh, and Eliana Way of Eastern Middle School in Silver Spring, Maryland for one-party, two-party, red party, blue party.
But what about third parties?
For nearly two centuries in the USA, Democrats and Republicans have been the top dominating parties.
Our high school Eastern Division First Prize goes to Daniel Assa of Winslow Township High School in Atco, New Jersey for Saving Sudan, U.S. aiding in a forgotten crisis.
Global solidarity is vital as Sudan's conflict is not isolated.
In the High School Central Division, Benjamin Currian of Olintangi Liberty High School in Powell, Ohio won first prize for the road to Vision Zero, which explores AI-driven road safety solutions.
Every day, eight teenagers never make it home because of a car crash.
The High School Western Division First Prize goes to three anonymous students from California for no sanctuary, addressing transnational repression in the next four years, which sheds light on global human rights threats.
This government needs to do better to make sure that the fundamental values of American democracy are not undermined.
And Dermot Foley, a 10th grader from Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, earns the grand prize of $5,000 for his documentary, Teens, Social Media, and the Fentanyl Overdose Crisis.
His compelling documentary, which features interviews with parents who've lost children to fentanyl, has earned him the top award for the second time, a first in 21 years of the C-SPAN Student Cam competition.
Yo, this year's C-SPAN Student Cam 2025 Grand Prize winner.
Wow.
Oh my gosh.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
I just want to say also, I'm really grateful to the families who shared their stories.
They were really brave to share their stories.
I learned so much from them and I hope other teens can learn from them as well.
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