As soon as he heard about the One Nation Working Together march for better jobs, public education and economic justice, Upstate Medical University UUPer Brian Tappen started making plans. He made a list of what he wanted to pack for the one-day, round-trip trek to the nation’s capital. Let’s see: two digital cameras; four lenses; 64GB of memory; tripod; stool; UUP chapter banner; fold-out maps of D.C. and the Metro rail; cowbell; whistle; harmonica; set of juggling clubs; Bicycle.

Tappen—who was among a busload of NYSUT and UUP members to leave Syracuse just after midnight Oct. 2—put his backpack on the bus and his bike in the storage hold below.

“They all thought I was crazy and mocked me for bringing my bike on the bus,” said Tappen, a statewide Executive Board member. “But when we got to D.C. and I was quickly on my way, they didn’t think it was such a crazy idea after all.”

Tappen pedaled the four miles from RFK Stadium to the National Mall, where he began texting his union colleagues to tell them his location.

Dozens of UUPers from chapters around the state were traveling by bus, train and car to add their voices to the more than 175,000 other unionists and human rights, faith and workers’ rights activists for the march.

Calls made and texts sent, Tappen then began taking photographs.

“The march is an historic event in support of education and jobs that I shared with my sisters and brothers in UUP?and NYSUT,” Tappen said. “I brought my cameras to record the event for me and my compatriots.”

Tappen was soon joined by a group of two dozen UUP officers and members who made the trip following the 2010 Fall Delegate Assembly in Buffalo.

“Jobs and education are two of the most fundamental tenets of academic unionism,” said UUP?President Phil Smith. “When the call to action went out, UUP gladly answered it.”

Participants called on Congress to act on the issues they voted for: preserving public education and access to health care; jobs for all; a strong, stable economy; and unity, not division.

“More than 400 groups were represented. I spoke with an alphabet soup of organizations too numerous to list, but it included folks from NYSUT, AFT, NEA, the NAACP, UAW, IBEW and CWA,” Smith added. “It was awesome, inspiring, incredible!”

Smith was far from alone in his assessment of the One Nation march.

“This has been a totally moving experience,” said Farmingdale UUPer Deb Nilsen, who boarded a NYSUT-sponsored bus on Long Island with a handful of her UUP colleagues. “It’s amazing to be part of the Big Event, the grandeur.”

UUPer Idalia Torres of Fredonia spent a lot of her time sending her husband text updates of the action.

“He wanted to come and see One Nation, page 8 march with me, but we couldn’t afford it,” Torres said. “He is one of the many people looking for work. It’s important for us to be here, to make a statement.”

The leaders of UUP’s national affiliates—AFT President Randi Weingarten and NEA President Dennis Van Roekel—lent their voices to the cause.

Speaking from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Weingarten said, “Today is about one nation standing together—and a good education is the foundation for everything else we seek today.”

“Teachers work hard every day to make a difference in young people’s lives,” Weingarten noted. “But teachers can’t do it alone.” They need the support of parents and others in the community to help teachers replicate what works in the country’s most successful public schools, she added.

In addressing the crowd, Van Roekel pointed out that “NEA members have come here today from every single state in the union to stand together with our partners, our friends, in our collective commit-ment to jobs, justice and public education.”

In addition to hearing from national leaders, UUP members connected with unionists from other AFT and NYSUT affiliates, including busloads of members from the United Federation of Teachers and Professional Staff Congress/CUNY, who battled bumper-to-bumper traffic to march on Washington.

After saying his good-byes, Tappen unchained his bike, hopped on and began to pedal back to RFK Stadium. He would then board the bus to arrive home at 2 a.m. Sunday, nearly 26 hours after his journey began.

“It was an all-day adventure and it was worth it,” Tappen said. “It was educational, it was fun and, hopefully, it’s productive.”

— Karen L. Mattison