Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fl.) condemned the national Women’s March in a Friday USA Today op-ed, stating that she would not march with them until they denounce Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
Wasserman Schultz wrote that she supports the march’s “values and mission,” she can’t “walk shoulder to shoulder with leaders who lock arms with outspoken peddlers of hate.”
“With anti-Semitism and white nationalism apparently on the upswing in America and globally, the associations that [Linda] Sarsour, [Carmen] Perez and [Tamika] Mallory have had with Nation of Islam (NOI) leader Louis Farrakhan have been most troubling,” Wasserman Schultz wrote.
Wasserman Schultz added that it was “alarming” that Mallory attended NOI’s Saviour’s Day in 2018.
“At almost every turn, Mallory has failed to clearly denounce Farrakhan,” Wasserman Schultz wrote. “Instead, she has attended Farrakhan’s speeches and posted her support for him on social media, referring to him as the ‘GOAT’ — or, the Greatest Of All Time. Just this week, she was repeatedly asked on national television to clearly condemn him, and she instead dodged the question, taking issue with the words he chose and the fact that Minister Farrakhan is male, rather than acknowledging the hurtfulness of his rhetoric toward Jews and the LGBTQ community.”
The former Democratic National Committee chairwoman also noted that Sarsour has said that progressives criticizing Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-Minn.) support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions put “their allegiance to Israel over their commitment to democracy and free speech.”
“This rhetoric is hurtful and shames the Jewish women who have stood for equality and inclusiveness since before the Women’s March even came into being,” Wasserman Schultz wrote.
Wasserman Schultz concluded the op-ed by stating that she will not march with the national Women’s March until they fully denounce anti-Semitism in all forms. In the meantime, she said she’ll march with local marches that have distanced themselves from the national march.
The Women’s March Los Angeles is one of the marches that has made clear that they have zero affiliation with the national Women’s March and that “hate speech” against Jews and Israel isn’t welcome.
