Women’s March founder asks co-chairs to resign amidst Farrakhan controversy
The controversy surrounding statements made by Minister Louis Farrakhan have brought the leadership of the Women's March to a standoff
After weeks of controversy, the founder of the Women’s March is now calling for four of the movement’s co-chairs to step down from their positions.
Monday, Women’s March founder Teresa Shook penned a very candid Facebook post, lashing out at board members Bob Bland, Tamika Mallory, Linda Sarsour and Carmen Perez.
Previously, #MeToo advocate Alyssa Milano publicly drew a line in the sand and said she would not be speaking at the 2019 march unless Mallory and Sarsour denounced Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan, accusing him of anti-Semitism.
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“Any time that there is any bigotry or anti-Semitism in that respect, it needs to be called out and addressed. I’m disappointed in the leadership of the Women’s March that they haven’t done it adequately,” Milano said after the leaders of the movement initially refused to denounce the Nation of Islam leader.
And now Shook is backing up the actress with her own critique.
“[They’re] allowing anti-Semitism, anti-LBGTQ 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,” she said of the four co-chairs. She continued: “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.”
Earlier this year, Mallory had attended the Nation of Islam Saviors’ Day event where Farrakhan stated, “the powerful Jews are my enemy.” Both she and Perez have posted photos praising him.
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As a collective, the four leaders have responded to Shook’s post with a statement of their own, stating the group has now transitioned into “one led by women of color.”
“We want to thank Teresa Shook for her contribution to our movement, creating a Facebook event named the Million Women’s March. That was the very beginning of the Women’s March, which grew from a Facebook event into the largest single-day protest in US history, one led by women of color,” the statement begins.
“Today, Teresa 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,” it continues. “Groups that have benefited from our work but refuse to organize in accordance with our Unity Principles clearly have no interest in building the world our principles envision. They have not done the work to mobilize women from diverse backgrounds across the nation.”
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“We are imperfect. We don’t know everything and we have caused harm,” the women concede. “At times we have responded with hurt. But we are committed to learning. We will continue to work through the good and the bad, the impact and the harm — of building an intersectional movement that our daughters, and our daughters’ daughters can be proud of.”
Despite weeks of controversy and terse words, their message ends on a note of gratitude and hope for continued support, “We are grateful for people who HAVE been with us for the past two years, wrestling with the challenges and opportunities of what we are trying to build. Our ongoing work speaks for itself. That’s our focus, not armchair critiques from those who want to take credit for our labor.
