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Women's March leaders in New York face scrutiny as local chapters defect
What's next for the Women's March as leaders face scrutiny?
Women's March leaders in New York face scrutiny as local chapters defect
What's next for the Women's March as leaders face scrutiny?
Local organizers of the Women's March have distanced themselves from the New York-based group’s leadership amid questions of finances, control and ties to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and his anti-Semitic views.
The Women’s March is a grassroots protest that began two years ago with a Facebook post. Millions of women participated in the Jan. 21, 2017 march in Washington D.C. and cities nationwide, one day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Four New York women who helped organize the D.C. march became co-chairs of a group called Women’s March Inc. and garnered the media spotlight as national leaders of the nascent movement.
But questions and concerns over the New York-based group's slowness to condemn Farrakhan's anti-Semitic remarks this year have prompted some allies and local and state organizers to distance themselves from WMI and its leaders.
More than one dozen local women’s organizations – including six local groups that share the "Women's March" name – have filed legal paperwork opposing the New York group's application to trademark the name. If the trademark designation is granted, it could open up lucrative merchandise sales for the New York group.
More local organizers and allies are becoming vocal about their concerns about WMI's leaders, even as the New York group and local groups prepare for another march on Jan. 19.
Teresa Shook, a retired Hawaii attorney whose 2016 Facebook post after the presidential election is credited with galvanizing the first march, demanded last month that WMI co-chairs Bob Bland, Tamika Mallory, Linda Sarsour and Carmen Perez resign. Actress and #MeToo influencer Alyssa Milano also said she was disappointed in WMI's leadership and refusal to condemn Farrakhan's remarks.
In a February 2018 speech during which he gave a shout-out to Mallory, Farrakhan said the "powerful Jews are my enemy" and said white Jews control Mexico and several European countries.
Women's March leaders in New York face scrutiny as local chapters defect