Assistant Style Editor Irit Skulnik believes that Jews should not attend the Women’s March, and her opinion is located on the top of the page. Assistant Features Editor Daphne Kaplan argues that Jews still should go to the march. Her opinion is located on the bottom of the page.

No, do not attend 

I wholeheartedly stand by fighting for women’s rights and against sexist policies in the government or elsewhere. Unfortunately, the national organization has been hijacked by a small clique of people that harbor antisemitic views, which is why I am hoping to attend other local marches that are not affiliated with the antisemitic leaders from the Women’s March.

I want to start off by saying I fully support the values and goals of the Women’s March and I attended the first Women’s March two years ago, after President Trump’s inauguration. I felt empowered by standing up for my rights. However, when I later learned the leaders of this organization had made extremely antisemitic comments, I was disgusted. To align myself with my values, I am looking forward to attending the Women’s March in Annapolis or Baltimore, where I will not be marching with a group of people who oppose my religion.

After founder Vanessa Wruble revealed her Jewish heritage, founders Tamika Mallory and Carmen Perez made comments saying that “Jews need to confront their role in racism” which is essentially an accusation that Jews are racists. Not long after the march, Wruble was removed, claiming it was because of her Jewish identity.

Later, when Wruble was organizing another march, Mallory claimed that Jews were responsible for the slave trade and the prison industry. Mallory made further comments praising the bravery of Hamas terrorists, According to Tablet Magazine, Mallory also largely supports Louis Farrakhan. Farrakhan is a widely known vicious antisemite and a leader of the Nation of Islam, who claims that Jews are responsible for the presence of transgender actors in Hollywood. Not only is Farrakhan’s comment antisemitic, but it is also anti-LGBTQ, and this is an example just one of many hateful comments he has said.

According to the New York Post, Farrakhan said in a 1984 speech that “Hitler was a very great man,” yet  Mallory continuously publicly praises Farrakhan, recently calling him the “GOAT” or “greatest of all time” on social media, and Farrakhan recently made a comment comparing Jews to termites.

In addition to Mallory, Linda Sarsour, the Co-Chair of The Women’s March Inc., openly supports Farrakhan, and in September made a comment that American Muslims should not humanize Israeli citizens as a whole.

These comments and hate speech are not okay. In fact, it’s horrific. I refuse to support the leaders of an organization that makes me feel hated for my Jewish heritage.

I cannot soundly attend an event led by Mallory and other antisemites who publicly make hateful comments towards Jews and who do not welcome Jews into their leadership, purely because of their religion.

Yes, you do not always have to agree with the people you march with. But where do you draw the line? The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) and I draw it at marching alongside leaders who openly support the oppression of Jews.

The JCRC sent out a community advisory asking Jews not to march with these antisemites. The advisory states, “A movement that truly honors the rights and self-determination of all people should not be led by individuals who praise peddlers of hatred and who undermine the dignity and integrity of their Jewish peers, thereby contravening the very unity principles they claim to espouse. The obligation to unequivocally denounce hatred only intensifies when we are in spaces with long-standing allies and speaking truth to power becomes particularly challenging and even painful.”

I stand with the JCRC in my choice not to march with these hateful and non-inclusive leaders. How can they pride themselves on their supposed “equality,” when they are openly antisemetic?

This is why you will find me marching at a different location, unaffiliated with Women’s March Inc., standing up for women’s rights in a place where I am respected as a Jew.

Yes, attend

As I was mindlessly scrolling through Facebook a few days after the 2016 presidential election, an ad for the Women’s March on Washington that would take place the day after President Trump’s inauguration appeared on my screen. It instantly caught my eye. Already angered by the then-President-elect Trump’s hateful rhetoric, I pleaded to go with my family because of indignation, and because it was my civic duty to uphold the values of an organization striving to champion equality for all people, promote “transformative social change,” provide a voice to the voiceless and “dismantle systems of oppression,” according to their website in a time of vulnerability.

Standing among a crowd of over several hundred thousands people on the day of the march, I felt immensely proud of my community, American citizens, minorities, the Women’s March organization and myself, who traveled to Washington D.C. and many other cities around the nation and world in an effort to shine light on many of the issues that are dismissed by government officials. It is important to mention that I went because my values aligned with many values that the Women’s March had proudly expressed, and in no way shape or form were their principles influencing how I felt.

It is no secret that over the past few months, there has been increasing national turmoil and coverage regarding how leaders of the Women’s March reflect the values of their mission statement and their approaches towards antisemitism. This national controversy has led many Jewish communities and other minorities to question their attendance at the 2019 Women’s March: “The Women’s Wave is Coming.”

The complex controversy stems from when early Women’s March organizer Vanessa Wruble expressed how her Jewish heritage inspired her to repair the world to leaders of the march, in which leaders of the group, Tamika Mallory and Carmen Perez responded by saying that Jews “needed to confront their own role in racism,” according to a New York Times’ article.

The national dispute continued when co-president of the Women’s March, Tamika Mallory, attended an event by the leader of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan, who is notoriously known for making antisemitic remarks. After attending, Mallory called Farrakhan, “the GOAT [greatest of all time]” on social media, leading many members of the movement, primarily Jews, to reconsider their affiliation. Although these are merely a few examples of their remarks, the aftermath has led many to struggle with understanding the organization’s motives and support for Jews entirely, especially given that The Women’s March Organization strives to champion equality for all, but evidently has a different agenda.

It is upsetting and disappointing that the leaders of a renowned international organization, which strives to promote equality, blatantly exclude a minority alike. However, it is crucial to additionally realize that when attending a march, leaders are not pushing their agendas on others. They are not trying to infringe on individual’s rights and individuals can still attend the march if they want to support a cause they feel passionate about.  

On Nov. 20, Linda Sarsour, the co-chair of the Women’s March and one of the prominent figures who has spoken antisemitic rhetoric issued a statement stating, “The Women’s March exists to fight bigotry and discrimination in all their forms — including homophobia and anti-semitism — and to lift up the voices of women who are too often left out.”

Sarsour’s statement represented the Women’s March and subsequently included that “every member of our movements matters to us — including our incredible Jewish and LGBTQ members.” Sarsour issued this statement from the Women’s March’s perspective; nonetheless, she, along with the other group members, are entitled to their own opinions regarding this controversial issue.

The Women’s March apologized for the “harm [they] have caused,” and still promotes equality, fights bigotry and provides justice for all, as mentioned in the organization’s mission statement. Productivity rarely occurs without people first disagreeing. Although their individual comments were harmful, the organization apologized, yearns to strengthen relationships with the Jewish community and plans to educate Women’s March leaders about antisemitism, in spite of the calamity.

With the march nearing, many Jewish communities have sought to create their own marches on January 19 in efforts to combat the hatred that the leaders of the Women’s March expressed. Others are still choosing to participate in the official Women’s March to shed light on the fundamental values of our democracy that the Women’s March provides a platform to do so.  

If you are still unsure whether to attend the Women’s March due to national controversy and criticism spoken by the leaders of the organization, know that it is still imperative to speak out about core principles of American democracy, that the organization apologized and that the march is not pushing their agenda on others. Also, work rarely is done if people agree with one another, and that the values of the Women’s March can transpire. But again, if you choose to condemn the organization for their reprehensible comments by its leaders, but there is no doubt that would be an acceptable approach as well.