Arne Duncan, the U.S. education secretary who served in the President Barack Obama administration is in hot water after a controversial tweet. | File
Arne Duncan, the U.S. education secretary who served in the President Barack Obama administration is in hot water after a controversial tweet. | File
Representatives with the South Carolina Education Association and Palmetto State Teachers Association, did not respond to a reported controversial tweet from a former U.S. education secretary that has since been deleted.
Arne Duncan, who served in the President Barack Obama administration, 2009-16, tweeted recently that Americans opposed to masking and who are hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccine are like the suicide bombers who attacked and killed U.S. troops in Afghanistan last month at Kabul International Airport, The Hill reported Aug. 31.
“Have you noticed how strikingly similar both the mindsets and actions between the suicide bombers at Kabul’s airport and the anti-mask and anti-vax people here?" Duncan reportedly tweeted before being taken down from Twitter. "They both blow themselves up, inflict harm on those around them, and are convinced they are fighting for freedom.”
Prior to Duncan's tweet, an ISIS-K suicide bomber and gunmen attacked the Kabul airport, resulting in the death of 13 U.S. service members and at least 170 Afghans.
A former teacher, Joel Petlin, replied to Duncan’s tweet saying, "On the day that President (Joe) Biden met the caskets containing the fallen soldiers who were victims of suicide bombers, I can't imagine a more inappropriate Tweet from former Education Secretary@arneduncan. There's no comparison between non-masking, non-vaxxing & terrorism. Shame," Newsweek reported.
Before being appointed to his cabinet position, Duncan was the CEO of Chicago Public Schools.
Founder and president of Restoration Action Doug Traux told the Palmetto State News that “It’s a sad day in America to see a supposed national education expert be so blatantly ignorant of the difference between legitimate dissent and barbaric, murderous behavior.”
On Sept. 9, Biden issued a sweeping mandate requiring all employers with 100 or more employees to “ensure their workers are vaccinated or tested weekly.”
According to the White House, the rule will be issued by the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and implemented via an Emergency Temporary Standard.
The rule requiring vaccination against COVID-19 or weekly proof of negative test results will affect more than 80 million employees.
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