O pinion
Voting with Our Feet, Walking
Away from Women’s March Inc.

BY ANN LEWIS
IN JANUARY 2017, I joined
proudly in the first Women’s
March, marching with my family
to show our support for issues like
women’s rights, civil rights and
voting rights. I was thrilled by the
turnout here in Washington and
across the country.

By January 2018, I had
serious concerns about com-
ments made by the national
co-chairs, Linda Sarsour,
Carmen Perez,
Tamika Mallory and Bob Bland, now
operating as Women’s March
Inc. But this march was locally
organized, led by the inspiring
Mercy Mergenfield. I came car-
rying a Zioness poster to show
my support for women’s rights,
civil rights, voting rights and
the right of the Jewish people
for self-determination.

This year, I stayed home.

I can no longer overlook the
divisive rhetoric and anti-Se-
mitic record of the national
co-chairs, who returned to
Washington seeking the
national spotlight. They have
proved themselves unable to
lead a national movement —
and unwilling to step aside.

I’m not alone in turning
away. While 2017 saw hun-
dreds of thousands of marchers
in Washington, and millions
across the country, in 2019,
the numbers dropped dramati-
cally. Mergenfield resigned, cit-
ing her disagreements with the
co-chairs. As The Washington
Post reported, “Organizers had
hoped to see hundreds of thou-
sands of attendees,” but wound
up filling just a few city blocks.

What happened is not just
a Washington phenomenon.

Locally organized committees,
the heart of any effective move-
ment, have chosen to go their
own way. A survey by JTA found
22 state organizations had disas-
sociated from Women’s March
Inc. Just 12 states said they
18 JANUARY 24, 2019
were still connected, including
Illinois, where Chicago’s march
says it is “not affiliated with
Women’s March Inc.” Chicago
canceled its march, suggest-
ing smaller events instead.

Unsurveyed cities also cancelled.

National and local organiza-
tions that were once listed as
partners by Women’s March Inc.

have dropped from more than
500 partners in 2017 to less than
175. Less than three months after
the 2018 midterm elections in
which women voters and women
candidates changed the face of
American politics, Women’s
March Inc., an organization
claiming to speak for women, is
hemorrhaging support.

What went wrong? How did a
movement that began with such
energy and promise wind up
losing so much support in just
two years? Why are leaders who
worked so hard to build marches
in their own communities now
separating themselves from the
national network?
Headlines such as “Womens
March controversy: anti-Semi-
tism allegations and Farrakhan
ties” (Vox) tell the story.

The co-chairs of Women’s
March Inc. say they are appalled.

With indignation worthy of
Claude Raines’ character in
Casablanca, who was shocked —
shocked — to learn there was
gambling on, they want us to
know they are against anti-Sem-
itism. In a last-minute attempt to
stem their losses, last month they
added the words “Jewish women”
and opposing anti-Semitism to
their statement of principles. Days
before the march, they added
three Jewish women to their steer-
ing committee, a textbook exam-
ple of too little, too late.

In their determination
to hold on to their titles, the
co-chairs expect us to overlook
their actual record: their fangirl
admiration for the anti-Semitic,
homophobic Louis Farrakhan,
who combines both bigotries
by preaching that Jews turn
black men gay; their support for
Rasmeah Odeah, a convicted
terrorist fighting deportation;
and their demand that ADL
be removed from antiracism
training by Starbucks.

These are not “old stories.”
In the last few weeks we have
heard Sarsour’s charge of dual
loyalty, the age-old libel, cit-
ing “folks who masquerade as
progressives but always choose
their allegiance to Israel,” while
Mallory, on national television,
refuses to say that Israel has a
right to exist.

I realize for many people
committed to working for pro-
gressive causes, this has been a
painful debate. We understand
that building coalitions is essen-
tial to making policy change,
and how important it is at this
moment to make those changes.

But we can’t build effective coali-
tions by leaving our values — or
our identity — behind.

That’s why I am heartened
by what I saw last weekend.

Yes, the self-appointed leaders
of Women’s March Inc. were
still on stage, but the audience
that came to hear them was
greatly diminished. You might
say people voted with their feet
— away from anti-Semitism,
overt or disguised, away from
old bigotries cloaked in the
language of new policies.

I doubt there will be another
national Women’s March, cer-
tainly not without a change
in leadership. Our challenge is
to understand what just hap-
pened. We can use last week’s
march as an example of what
not to do, and demand better,
working in coalitions that rep-
resent the best of us and mov-
ing forward for women, for our
families, for us all. l
Ann Lewis was White House
communications director for
President Bill Clinton and is a
member of the board of Zioness.

JEWISH EXPONENT
Phillips Continued from Page 16
Acre Prison
Acre Prison is where Zionist
leader Ze’ev Jabotinsky and his
comrades were imprisoned by
the British in 1920 for defend-
ing Jewish neighborhoods in
Jerusalem from Arab rioters.

Later, the British imprisoned
Irgun and Stern Group (LEHI)
underground fighters there.

Several Zionist fighters were
executed there by the British.

The prison is perhaps best
known for the 1947 escape of
dozens of fighters during an
underground raid that was
depicted in Leon Uris’ novel
Exodus and the 1960 movie.

Museum of the Underground
Prisoners Another prison where the
British held Irgun and LEHI
soldiers was Jerusalem’s Central
Prison in the Russian Compound.

Exhibits there relate the stories of
the heroes of the underground.

Jabotinsky Institute
Ze’ev Jabotinsky was the
Zionist leader who created a bold,
new vision for Zionism after the
death of Theodor Herzl. The
Jabotinsky Institute in Tel Aviv
houses a museum dedicated to
teaching about him and an intrigu-
ing special exhibit that spotlights
the Af Al Pi illegal effort that res-
cued Jews from Nazi Europe and
brought them to Israel.

Tel Chai
Tel Chai was a settlement
in the Galilee that was the site
of a battle against Arab raid-
ers in 1920. The Zionist hero
Joseph Trumpeldor and seven
other valiant defenders died
in the defense of Tel Chai
against a much larger force.

Trumpeldor had been instru-
mental in forming the Jewish
Legion during World War I.

Jabotinsky named his Betar
movement after Trumpledor.

A large statue of a lion sits at
the sight as does a museum at
kibbutz Kfar Giladi.

Rosh Pina
Shlomo Ben Yosef is bur-
ied in Rosh Pina. Rosh Pina
was an early Zionist settlement.

In 1938 in response to attacks
on Jews by Arab terrorists,
Ben Yosef, a member of Betar
and the Irgun, along with two
companions organized a repri-
sal attack. They were subse-
LEHI Museum
quently arrested by the British.

The LEHI underground Ben Yosef was executed by the
launched a campaign to force British at Acre prison.

the British to leave the Land
of Israel. Its founder, Yair
A perfect book to bring
(Avraham) Stern, had been a along on your Birthright trip
leader in the Irgun and formed is Zev Golan’s Free Jerusalem
the LEHI in order to fight the Heroes, Heroines and Rogues
British at all costs. The LEHI Who Created the State of Israel
Museum is housed in the build- (Geffen Publishing, 2003). It will
ing where Stern was assassi- help make your visits to these
nated by the British in 1942.

historic sights more meaning-
ful. The book is worth reading
Menachem Begin Heritage
even if you have no plans to visit
Center Israel anytime soon. l
To better understand this
founding father of Israel and Moshe Phillips is the national
leader of the Irgun there is sim- director of Herut North America’s
ply no better place to visit than U.S. section. Herut is an
the Menachem Begin Heritage international movement for Zionist
Center in Jerusalem.

pride and education.

Etzel Museum
The Irgun was also known
as the Etzel. This museum in
Tel Aviv details the history
the Irgun and the movement’s
impact on the British decision
to leave the Land of Israel, as
well as the group’s combat role
in the War of Independence.

JEWISHEXPONENT.COM