The Chicago chapter of the Women’s March has opted to cancel the rally they had scheduled for Jan. 19 amid reports of anti-Semitism in the national group’s leadership. It was originally scheduled for the same day as similar marches that will take place across the country.
From Daily Caller:
“There’s no march, there’s no rally,” Sara Kurensky, Women’s March Chicago board member, said Tuesday to the Chicago Tribune. “We’re going to provide ways for people to organize and take action in their local communities.”
Women’s March Chicago organizers blamed the expensiveness of the rally and limited volunteers as the reasons behind the cancellation, adding that they would be honoring the anniversary of the first march with another type of event, but have not shared any particulars.
The cancellation comes at a difficult time for the larger national organization, which is facing accusations of anti-Semitism, especially within its leadership.
Last month, Tablet Magazine reported that two of the Women’s March’s founders, Carmen Perez and Tamika Mallory, accosted a Jewish woman who was in that meeting, spouting false allegations that Jewish people “bore a special collective responsibility as exploiters of black and brown people,” and “were proven to have been leaders of the American slave trade.”
The Chicago Women’s March issued a statement last month condemning the connections to Louis Farrakhan, leader of the group Nation of Islam, and to separate themselves from the national organization.
