Women's March Inc. Making a Late Attempt to Regain Credibility

Women’s March Inc. is a national organization that was launched in 2017 by four activists from New York City — Tamika Mallory, Linda Sarsour, Carmen Perez, and Bob Bland-- and were primarily responsible for leveraging early opposition to Trump into a nationwide series of protests for Women's rights.  Unfortunately, the group become mired in allegations of antisemitism after two of its founders-- Tamika Mallory and Carmen Perez refused to denounce their support for Louis Farrakhan.

After the initial march, the four co-chairs ousted one of the group’s earliest organizers, Vanessa Wruble, who is Jewish.  Wruble later helped establish a new organization and made accusations of anti-Semitism.

In 2018, the accusations of anti-Semitism against march co-chairs Tamika Mallory and Carmen Perez gained credibility when media outlets homed in on the leaders’ relationship with Louis Farrakhan, the controversial National of Islam leader known for making sexist and anti-Semitic comments.  The Women's March co-chairs denied the allegations of antisemitism and condemned some of Farrakhan’s more outrageous statements, but refused to denounce the man himself.

The backlash was swift. Mallory and Perez became persona non grata in many progressive circles.  Co-president Bob Bland was forced to deny in the Tablet magazine investigative report that anti-Semitic remarks were made during Women’s March leadership meetings. 

Nevertheless, Leah McSweeney and Jacob Siegel at Tablet reported that  Mallory and fellow Women’s March Inc. co-chair Carmen Perez had indeed made anti-Semitic comments at board meetings.  At an early meeting to plan the first Women’s March, Mallory and Perez “asserted that Jewish people bore a special collective responsibility as exploiters of black and brown people.”

Evvie Harmon (the group's former co-global coordinator) also disclosed that even after the hugely successful initial march, Mallory claimed that “The problem was that there were five white women in the room and only three women of color, and that she didn’t trust white women. Especially white women from the South."

The first Women’s March attracted around 4 million participants; in 2018, it was closer to 2 million. Last year, the most generous estimates put the crowd size at around 730,000.  Nearly half of all local marches called off their 2019 event, and others put out statements declaring their independence from the national group.   Celebrities including Alyssa Milano vowed not to speak at the demonstrations, and sponsors including NARAL, Emily’s List, and the Human Rights Campaign pulled their support.

Mallory dug herself into a deep hole last year during an interview on The View where, after being pressed by Meghan McCain, she would not condemn Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who has called Jews “termites” and praised Adolf Hitler.  in that same interview, she also continued her refusal to condemn Farrakhan's many antisemitic and misogynistic statements.   Mallory also refused to say in an interview on PBS if she thought Israel had the right to exist.


In the aftermath of that controversy, 2019 was marked by shrinking crowds at Women's March events across the nation, splinter groups, dueling marches, and continued allegations of antisemitism.  After a long period of denial and antagonism against various local groups, the Women’s March national organization decided to make changes to its board and launch a re-branding effort.



Women's March Inc. started off by announcing that Sarsour, Mallory and Bland would resign from the board, but that Perez would remain.   But this wasn't exactly true-- chief operating officer Rachel O’Leary Carmona was later forced to admit that Sarsour, Mallory and Bland may still be involved in some way in the future-- and that Perez would stay in a rotating seat saved for the founders (which many have interpreted as an open door for Sarsour, Mallory and Bland to return).

Just days after the changes to the board were announced, social media sleuths dragged up old social media posts from incoming member Zahra Billoo that many deemed anti-Semitic. The board voted swiftly to remove her-- but for many, it was all too little, too late.

In Los Angeles, where crowd sizes regularly swamped those in D.C., the local organizing group cut ties with the national organization after the controversy.  Local leader Emiliana Guereca said they don’t plan to re-join forces with the reformulated national organization anytime soon.  “We weren’t aligned with some of the statements that were put forth [by the national group],” she told The Daily Beast. “We [have] moved on.  We want no part of the negative rhetoric.  As a Jewish Latina organizer, what was going on was not acceptable.”

Vanessa Wruble, the early march leader who first raised accusations of antisemitism against Perez and Mallory, founded her own women’s political group after being pushed out of the organization. She said her group, March On, will be focused less on marching and more on mobilizing turnout for the election.

Mercy Morganfield, a former D.C. organizer who has been critical of the original co-chairs, feels the latest changes don't go far enough. She has criticized the Women’s March for appointing new board members rather than electing them, and for keeping in a rotating seat for the original co-chairs. She also claims that many of the new board members have been in “lockstep” with the original co-chairs from the beginning.   “I don’t have too much confidence in the Women’s March and I have a lot of resentment for them because I think they took a powerful moment... and they squandered it for foolishness,” she said.