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The Women’s March reportedly severed ties with three of its founding board members following controversies that have included accusations of anti-Semitic rhetoric weakening the group's mission.
National co-chairs Bob Bland, Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour stepped down from their positions on Sunday, opening the doors for 16 new board members of diverse backgrounds to repair relationships with activist groups and the Jewish community, The Washington Post reported Monday.
While the three are no longer pictured on the website’s board of directors’ page, the organization has been slow to announce the reported departures officially.
Women's March co-chairs, from left: Bob Bland, Linda Sarsour and Tamika D. Mallory . They have reportedly left the organization. Carmen Perez, however, (far right) has remained with the group. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images) File
Each was expected to “transition off of the Women’s March Board and onto other projects focused on advocacy within their respective organizations,” the organization said Monday in a statement obtained by the Post.
Many of the new board reportedly acknowledged “mistakes and missteps” in the past, though they didn’t provide specific instances. Under the previous leadership, the Women’s March was regularly under fire over its ties to anti-Semitic groups and comments deemed anti-Semitic.
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Bland previously shared a post that appeared to point fingers at the “American Jewish Establishment” after the March 15 attacks on two New Zealand mosques that killed more than 50 people. Bland later apologized, clarifying that she would extend blame “to all establishment politicians of both parties, of any or no faith,” the Jerusalem Post reported.
Mallory has faced backlash after she said this past January that controversial Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan was the “greatest of all time because of what he’s done in black communities.” She had been seen attending an event where Farrakhan said that “the powerful Jew is my enemy.”
Mallory later wrote, “As I continue to grow and learn as both an activist and as a woman, I will continue to grapple with the complicated nature of working across ideological lines and the question of how to do so without causing harm to vulnerable people.”
Sarsour has come under fire for lauding Farrakhan, objecting to the Jewish right to return to Israel, and even calling for “jihad” against President Trump in 2017. She later claimed she was calling only for nonviolent dissent.
Co-chair Carmen Perez will remain with the organization, the paper reported, despite calls for her resignation last year.
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The new board members, elected by a nominating committee, included three Jewish women, a transgender woman, a former legislator, two religious leaders and a member of the Lakota nation’s Oglala tribe, the Post reported.
The Women’s March, which was first held on Jan. 21, 2017, was a response to President Trump’s White House inauguration. Thousands of women in Washington, D.C., and in cities across the U.S. and world, used the day to advocate for human rights and women's issues, which protesters argued would face adversity under the new administration.
Fox News' Madeline Farber, Luka Mikelionis and Caleb Parke contributed to this report.
