Amid questions about her recent attendance at a Nation of Islam conference where Louis Farrakhan spouted his usual racist tripe, Women’s March co-founder Tamika Mallory defended herself in part by writing, “I have been going to this event regularly for over 30 years.”
Indeed, this means she was fully aware of Farrakhan’s twisted worldview long before the event in question. “Thank God this man is still alive and doing well. He is definitely the GOAT,” she wrote in an Instagram post on Farrakhan’s birthday two years ago, using the acronym for “greatest of all time.”
As startling as his statements at the conference may sound — including but not limited to, “The powerful Jews are my enemy,” and, “White folks are going down” — for Farrakhan, they’re not all that surprising.
“Definitely the GOAT,” as Mallory would say.
The Women’s March has been battling charges of anti-Semitism all week, fighting criticism from across the ideological spectrum for Mallory’s affiliation with Farrakhan.
But the group’s insistence on its own inclusivity isn’t convincing until leaders mount a clear defense of how a “social justice” activist who idolizes a living, breathing racist like Farrakhan is committed to the right definition of equality. In fact, coming up with an answer to that question would be helpful to the progressive movement and its allies in the Democratic Party as a whole, given the number of other politicians with ties to him. Mallory (and others) knew Farrakhan championed racist beliefs. She affiliated with him anyway. Acknowledge that, and then explain it.
Despite public perception, the group represents a broad coalition, the Women’s March regularly flirts with the fringe. To commemorate International Women’s Day in 2017, the Women’s March joined forces with radical anti-capitalist International Women’s Strike organizers — Angela Davis included — who had declared that violence against women is also “the violence of the market, of debt, of capitalist property relations.” (Davis spoke at the group’s January 2017 Washington march as well.)
Co-founder Linda Sarsour, of course, has faced plenty of fair scrutiny for her own record of questionable statements and treatment of women who make accusations of sexual harassment.
Though it’s managed to get favorable press coverage, and support from politicians and celebrities, the Women’s March represents a small slice of the population it purports to advocate on behalf of. In fact, it kicked off by excluding pro-life feminists. Now, it’s fair to suspect even some of its progressive allies are questioning Mallory’s Farrakhan ties.
To be perfectly clear, Farrakhan is not representative of progressivism. But progressives might want to explore whether their ranks are in need of a purging, and politicians, activists, and media observers should question whether the Women’s March is a cause they want to champion.
