The founder of the Women’s March on Monday called on four of its leaders to step down, saying they’d “steered” the political-protest movement off course by their refusal to condemn anti-Semitic and homophobic allies.
“As Founder of the Women’s March, my original vision and intent was to show the capacity of human beings to stand in solidarity and love against the hateful rhetoric that had become a part of the political landscape in the U.S. and around the world,” Teresa Shook wrote in a Facebook post.
“Bob Bland, Tamika Mallory, Linda Sarsour and Carmen Perez of Women’s March, Inc. have steered the Movement away from its true course,” she wrote. “I have waited, hoping they would right the ship. But they have not. In opposition to our Unity Principles, they have allowed anti-Semitism, 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. 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.”
Mallory and Sarsour have been widely criticized for praising Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who espouses anti-Semitic and homophobic views, National Review reported. The co-chairs have also come under fire for partnering with and endorsing anti-Semitic pro-Palestinian groups, the news outlet reported.
In one instance last March, a regional chapter of Planned Parenthood disinvited Mallory from a scheduled speaking event after she attended Farrakhan’s Saviour’s Day address in Chicago, in which he described Jewish people as “satanic” and dubbed them his “enemy.” Ten days after posting an Instagram video lauding his speech, she issued a statement in which she refused to condemn him and said she holds the Nation of Islam “close to [her] heart,” the National Review reported.
According to the Independent, actress and activist Alyssa Milano said earlier this month she wouldn’t speak at any Women's March events unless Sarsour and Mallory either denounce Farrakhan or step down.
“Any time that there is any bigotry or anti-Semitism in that respect, it needs to be called out and addressed,” Milano said. “I’m disappointed in the leadership of the Women’s March that they haven’t done it adequately.”
But the four Women’s March leaders pushed back.
In their own Facebook response, they wrote that Shook “weighed in, irresponsibly, as have other organizations attempting in this moment to take advantage of our growing pains to try and fracture our network.”
According to the National Review, the previously anonymous Shook, a Hawaii-based lawyer, launched the Women’s March movement by starting a Facebook page to organize street protests in the wake of the 2016 presidential election. She addressed the massive crowd on the National Mall in Washington after President Donald Trump’s election.
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