Organizers planning a local California Women’s March for January have pulled the plug on the event because attendees would have been “overwhelmingly white.”
Humboldt County organizers were considering hosting a rally in Eureka, Calif., on Jan. 19 to commemorate the third anniversary of the original Women’s March in Washington, D.C., held the day after President Trump’s inauguration in 2017. But they decided to can the event because of fears it would be perceived as being noninclusive.
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“The local organizers are continuing to meet and discuss how to broaden representation in the organizing committee to create an event that represents and supports peoples who live here in Humboldt. Up to this point, the participants have been overwhelmingly white, lacking representation from several perspectives in our community,” the group said Friday in a statement. “Instead of pushing forward with crucial voices absent, the organizing team will take time for more outreach. Our goal is that planning will continue and we will be successful in creating an event that will build power and community engagement through connection between women that seek to improve the lives of all in our community.”
The group said Friday it was now “exploring holding an event in March to celebrate International Women’s Day.”
More than 80 percent of Humboldt County is white, according to 2018 data posted on U.S. Census Bureau’s website.
The January demonstration’s nixing comes on the heels of other disappointments for the broader Women’s March movement. Women’s March Washington state disbanded this month following tensions with Women’s March Inc., the national body, regarding ties to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and his anti-Semitic comments. The Rhode Island chapter officially split from its parent organization in May for the same reason.
Women’s March Chicago organizers similarly confirmed in November it would not be putting together an anniversary rally in January, but its decision was based on a lack of money and volunteers giving it led a “March to the Polls” ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.
