Women's March Leaders Have An Anti-Semitism Problem. Maybe Its Time To Leave Them Behind

[grossproffit]

Last week, current Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan—a well-known anti-Semite—gave a speech where he said “the powerful Jews are my enemy” and that he had “pulled the cover off of that Satanic Jew and I'm here to say your time is up, your world is through.” Other previous Farrakhan highlights include saying the Jews were behind 9/11 and calling Adolf Hitler a “very great man.”

That alone is a story. But it doesn’t end there.

Soon after the speech, news broke that Women’s March leader Tamika Mallory was in attendance; she even received a shout out from Farrakhan during his address and posted about the event on social media. Meanwhile, Women’s March leader Linda Sarsour has collaborated with the Nation of Islam in the past, and Carmen Perez defended Farrakhan in the past, telling Amelia Harnish in January that there are “no perfect leaders” and that people need to understand Farrakhan’s contributions to Black and Brown circles.

Understandably, the Jewish community — particularly people who have supported the Women’s March and other social justice causes — wanted answers. We also wanted something that most thought would be pretty simple for a bunch of women who spend their days parading around their intersectionality: We wanted them to denounce anti-Semitism and the words Farrakhan said against Jews. This isn’t a new thing; after all, we ask public figures to denounce awful people and hate speech all the time.

To say we didn’t get that is an understatement. Instead, we got Tamika Mallory posting a bizarre series of tweets calling valid criticisms “bullying” and refusing to apologize for her support of Farrakhan and her lack of denouncement regarding his words. Linda Sarsour suddenly decided that she was very cool with silence and just retweeted one of Mallory’s tweets, as did Bob Bland. Carmen Perez took it one step further, quote-tweeting Mallory and saying something about the national organizers’ “lifetime commitment to liberation.” Missing from that? A condemnation of Farrakhan.

At this point, here’s what I’ve got to say to all of them: You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.

https://www.refinery29.com/2018/03/192463/anti-semitism-womens-march-jewish-community-reaction-essay

[safeinOhio]

1. He doesnt like anyone

Just full of hate. N

[lark]

2. Don't really care about the leaders.

I care about the march, the message and the marchers united against drumpf - that is what is important to me. drumpf is the real deal, a total fascist in thrall to the biggest fascist oligarch in the world - Putin.

[Archae]

3. It used to be official US policy...

To support right-wing scumbags as long as they were "against communism."

So now it's "As long as they are anti-Trump, it's ok for them to be anti-Jewish?"

[lark]

6. NO, David duke is a KKK oerson and that is it.

I am not a supporter of those people, I'm a supporter of the marches which are totally not anti-Jewish. I went to both here in Jax and heard not one anti-Jewish word. I am a supporter of defying drumpf and these marches are the most visible signs of that. I'm very sorry to hear that a couple of top people like Farrakahn the racist, but they don't control the march and there is no purity test to be part of anti-drumpf.

In fact Farrakahn is closer to drumpf in hating other races, so this is kind of a mind fuck for me.

[grossproffit]

7. Farrakahn and David Duke share the same hatred of Jews. They're one and the same.

[lark]

8. No, it's not OK for them or drumpf or anyone to be racists.

This article discusses 2 people, these people are not the march itself, just 2 people. As I said in a previous thread, I went to the 2 marches in Jax. and heard not one anti-Jewish word. My friend is Jewish and was proudly there with me. If the march were owned by these people, if it were named for them, that would be following them. As far as I know, these are 2 misguided souls who don't see that Farrakhan is just as much a racist hater as drumpf. I won't stop marching just because 2 people (out of millions and millions of supporters) are stupid.

[grossproffit]

4. If they embraced David Duke would you still feel the same?

[jalan48]

5. Can leaders be removed for this kind of behavior?

[panader0]

9. That's unacceptable. They need to go.

They'll give the Women's March a bad name.

[11cents]

10. It's been the case all along that the Women's Marches were great events DESPITE these "leaders"

Last edited Tue Mar 6, 2018, 03:00 PM - Edit history (1)

IMO they're little more than grifters. They co-opted an idea that originated with Clinton supporters, and turned it into a vehicle for their egos and their political sectarianism. They've also tried to monetize it. As far as I can see the problem is entirely with them and not at the level of state and local organizers, but they're still seen as the faces of the movement, and so they're a problem. They have to go.

[mcar]

11. These women are tainting the Women's March group

If they truly cared about it, they would step aside.

[Mosby]

12. K and R.