More calls for Women’s March leaders to resign
THE FOUNDER OF the Women’s March group in the US has called for the organisation’s leadership to step down because of “antisemitism” and “hateful racist rhetoric” in the movement.
Teresa Shook, who first came up with the idea of holding a Women’s March in Washington, DC on the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2017, made the call to its four leaders — Bob Bland, Tamika Mallory, Linda Sarsour and Carmen Perez.
She said they had allowed “antisemitism, anti-LBGTQIA sentiment and hateful, racist rhetoric to become a part of the platform by their refusal to separate themselves from groups that espouse these racist, hateful beliefs.”
At least two of the leaders of the Women’s March — Ms Mallory and Ms Sarsour — have previously associated with Louis Farrakhan, the vocal leader of the “Nation of Islam” hate group who recently compared Jewish people to termites.
Ms Sarsour has become a polarising figure for American Jews in recent years.
Some have accused her of engaging in anti-Zionist activism by attacking supporters of Israel, while others argue her actions — such as raising funds for the funerals of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting victims — showed she was not antisemitic.
On Tuesday she released a statement acknowleding the movement had been too slow to show its commitment to fighting antisemitism.
“We should have been faster and clearer in helping people understand our values and our commitment to fighting antisemitism. We regret that,” the statement said.
But she did not distance herself or the Women’s March from Mr Farrakhan. The movement has previously only said his “statements about Jewish, queer and trans people are not aligned with Women’s March
Unity Principles.”
Louis Farrakhan
Ms Shook accused the four leaders of having “steered the Movement away from its true course. I have waited, hoping they would right the ship. But they have not.
“I call for the current Co-Chairs to step down and to let others lead who can restore faith in the Movement and its original intent.”
In response, the four Women’s March leaders accused Ms Shook of having “weighed in irresponsibly, as have other organizations attempting in this moment to take advantage of our growing pains to try and fracture our network.”
But Mercy Morganfield, the former head of the Washington DC chapter of the group, said she agreed with Ms Shook.
She wrote on Facebook: “I’d repeatedly denounced Tamika Mallory’s antisemitic rhetoric in public and private.
“I was shushed by Bob Bland as she protected Tamika. I was shushed by others who didn’t want their criticism to reflect badly on women.
“Tamika and Linda have betrayed all women by their subservience to radical religious beliefs that do not believe in equal rights for women.”
Hateful rhetoric has become part of the platform