Actress and liberal activist Alyssa Milano announced that she would not speak at Women’s March events unless two of its co-founders stepped down. Many applauded her for standing her ground and denouncing organized anti-Semitism. Milano recently spoke with LGBTQ publication Advocate where she denounced Linda Sarsour and Tamika Mallory, the co-organizers of Women’s March.
Alyssa Milano entered the spotlight as an activist after her use of the #metoo hashtag went viral following the Harvey Weinstein scandal. Since then, she’s relished her position in the spotlight and used it to bring awareness to issues affecting women. So when she recently spoke out against Linda Sarsour and Tamika Mallory, people took her seriously.
Many of us already knew how problematic these women have been. The Women’s March has reached a global scale, advocating for all women. Including Jewish women. I recently reached out to the Frankfurt, Germany branch of Women’s March. An organizer informed me that Women’s March Global has strongly denounced Louis Farrakhan.
Women’s March Global released a statement addressing the controversy. “Women’s March Global has learned of the decision to suspend the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Human Rights Award which was set to be given to members of Women’s March USA. This decision was brought about due to an open letter written by FES scholarship holders and alumni citing allegations of anti-Semitism perpetuated by Women’s March USA.”
While I’m a firm believer that it’s possible to be critical of the Israeli government without being anti-Semitic, Linda Sarsour takes things too far. She worked closely with Rasmea Yousef Odeh, an actual Palestinian terrorist who spent 10 years in prison for her role in a bombing that killed two Israeli students. Entering the United States fraudulently, Odeh carried out activist work within the United States, causing many to question her actual agenda.
The Women’s March has also hailed fugitive cop-killer Assata Shakur as a “civil rights leader.” Shakur was convicted in the 1977 murder of a New Jersey state trooper. She escaped to Cuba, where she has maintained political asylum. They defended posting a Happy Birthday message to Assata Shakur from the Women’s March Twitter page by basically saying, “We know she’s a criminal, but she was revolutionary.”
Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour have closely aligned themselves with Louis Farrakhan, the minister of the Nation of Islam—which has been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The excuses given by organizers for supporting Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam change depending on who is protesting. If a white woman calls Women’s March leaders out, they speak like all women of color are under attack. Their concerns are dismissed and reduced to silly “white privilege.”
If a woman of color objects, the organizers take a different approach. I have seen Linda Sarsour attempt to explain away anti-Semitism and homophobia by speaking directly to “women of color” and assuring us that private conversations are taking place on how to move forward supporting other organizations who have such disgusting ideas. It’s all just lip service and the international activism community is finally onto the “Women’s March.”
