Women’s March leaders slam ADL, call group ‘Islamophobic,’ anti-minority
Linda Sarsour had a lot to say about the Anti-Defamation League.
By DANIEL J. ROTHUpdated: APRIL 20, 2018 03:04WOMEN’S MARCH organizers Carmen Perez, Tamika D. Mallory and Linda Sarsour take the stage during a protest called March for Racial Justice in New York City. (Reuters)(photo credit: REUTERS)
NEW YORK – Leaders of the progressive Women’s March movement slammed the Anti-Defamation League on Tuesday as an organization that “constantly” attacks minorities of color around the world, after Starbucks announced that it enlisted the civil rights group among those leading sensitivity training for its employees.In light of the ADL’s participation, Women’s March co-president Tamika Mallory called for a boycott of the coffeehouse giant via social media, writing: “So you are aware, Starbucks was on a decent track until they enlisted the Anti-Defamation League to build their anti-bias training.”Mallory added that the “ADL is CONSTANTLY attacking black and brown people. This is a sign that they are tone deaf and not committed to addressing the concerns of black folks.Be clear about what’s happening here.”Challenged by Twitter users who defended the civil rights group, Mallory doubled down and partly faulted an ADL-sponsored program that sends police departments to train with Israeli security agencies.“We are talking about anti-bias training, which has mainly been happening to [sic] black people. The ADL sends US police to Israel to learn their military practices. This is deeply troubling. Let’s not even talk about their attacks against @ blacklivesmatter,” Mallory stated.Meanwhile, Women’s March leader Linda Sarsour took to Facebook to denounce the ADL, echoing Mallory’s call for a ban against Starbucks.“Starbucks almost had me on their anti-bias training for all employees UNTIL I heard ADL was enlisted as one of the orgs to build their anti-bias curriculum.[It is] an anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian organization that peddles islamophobia and attacks America’s prominent Muslim orgs and activists,” Sarsour wrote in her post.The Brooklyn-born Palestinian rights activists added: “Other awesome groups that could do anti-bias trainings or give recommendations... Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, Bend the Arc... trainers that conducted the Confronting White Womanhood panel at Women’s March Convention, and so many, many more.”Last month, the ADL criticized the Women’s March leaders after they failed to condemn an anti-Jewish speech delivered by notorious hate-preacher Louis Farrakhan in Chicago.“In the audience at last weekend’s conference was Tamika Mallory, one of the leaders of the Women’s March, who got a special shout-out from Farrakhan and who regularly posts laudatory pictures of him on her Instagram account as does Carmen Perez, another leader of the March,” the ADL said in a statement on March 3.“Linda Sarsour, another March organizer, spoke and participated in a Nation of Islam event in 2015. Her most notable response to his incendiary remarks this year was a glowing post on Perez’s Facebook page to praise Farrakhan’s youthful demeanor,” the ADL added.Starbucks decided to include the ADL, along with a number of civil rights groups, for a “racial bias training” seminar scheduled on May 29.The training sessions follow a national backlash after two black men were arrested inside a Starbucks coffee store in Philadelphia for trespassing.
