Like Saturn, the “awokening” continues to devour its own children. The Women’s March began 2019 not with a bang but a series of whimpers, gasps, and gaffes, imploding across the country.
The Women’s March has spent the winter under fire, with heavily substantiated allegations of anti-Semitism causing inner turmoil and defections of local groups across the country from the national organization. From the group’s leadership’s continued and unapologetic association with anti-Semites like Louis Farrakhan and Rasmea Odeh to their proud celebration of anti-Americans Angela Davis and Assata Shakur, years of complaints from the political peanut gallery have finally entered national conversation.
The leadership’s answer to their crimes of bigotry? A giant, resounding shrug.
Women’s March co-presidents Bob Bland and Tamika Mallory appeared on “The View,” presumably to do the sort of damage control that would be far more difficult on, say, a cable news network or in a prime-time interview. But alas, Mallory, accused of privately blaming Jews for the plight of black people and perhaps the proudest devotee of Farrakhan, was happy to nuke any plausible deniability remaining among the group and its supporters.
When pressed by the hosts of “The View” about the allegations of anti-Semitism swarming the Women’s March, Bland said that the group “repeatedly” condemned anti-Semitism and bigotry.
“We’re committed to repairing any harm, because we understand that the Jewish community is feeling really hurt right now,” Bland said, citing a statement on the group’s website. (The statement doesn’t actually condemn Farrakhan’s anti-Semitism but rather claims that “his statements about Jewish, queer, and trans people are not aligned with the Women’s March Unity Principles, which were created by women of color leaders and are grounded in Kingian Nonviolence.”)
But host Meghan McCain wasn’t satisfied with the deflection. Instead, she did what all but a handful of journalists have even attempted over the past two years and held Mallory’s feet to the fire with a prosecutorial line of questioning.
“We did not make those remarks,” Mallory said. “What I will say to you is that I don’t agree with many of Minister Farrakhan’s statements.”
McCain then specifically asked about Farrakhan’s statements about Jews.
Mallory reiterated, “As I said, I don’t agree with many of Minister Farrakhan’s statements.”
Then McCain asked the single question all have failed to do: Does Mallory condemn them?
“I don’t agree with these statements,” said Mallory. “To be clear, it’s not my language. It’s not the way that I speak. It’s not how I organize. And I think it is very clear over the 20 years of my own personal activism, my own personal track record, who I am, and that I should never be judged through the lens of a man. That is actually not what this women’s movement is supposed to be about.”
Translation: While I wouldn’t personally call Jews “termites,” who am I to say that sort of language is wrong? After all, it grasps the general sentiment.
While many have known that Mallory, Linda Sarsour, and higher-ups in the group have been acolytes of Odeh, a terrorist, and other progressive scum for years, the reports have finally become too damning to ignore.
Women in New Orleans canceled their march due to the leadership’s flagrant anti-Semitism.
On the other hand, in the coastal city of Eureka, Calif., local organizers have canceled their January march because it was too “overwhelmingly white.” It’s almost as though your average person of color doesn’t take too fondly to rabid Jew hatred and an entire march veiling hatred and political extremism under the guise of feminism.
The New York City Women’s March, one of the few remaining loyal chapters to the national organization, will feature Mallory as a speaker, where she’ll be joined by known Soviet shill and terrorist Davis, murderer, and ethnonationalist Assata Shakur, and anti-Semite Alice Walker.
The public is waking up, but even so, Sarsour smeared the halls of Congress with her bigotry earlier this month, taking photos with fellow anti-Semites and newly sworn-in Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.
The Republican Party is rightly having a reckoning with the white nationalist Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. Maybe it’s too little, too late, but when it comes to eradicating bigotry, it’s better late than never.
Fellow freshman progressive Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., recently apologized for quoting Alice Walker, writing on Twitter admitting that she was “unaware” of Walker’s past anti-Semitic statements and that she “fully condemn[s] and denounce[s] anti-Semitism, prejudice and bigotry in all their forms.”
There is grace within the progressive Left, and Pressley just exemplified it. If the downfall of the Women’s March demonstrates anything, it’s that progress of all kinds cannot come with the collateral damage of bigotry of any kind.
