New Orleans Cancels Women’s March Over Anti-Semitism Controversy

Women’s March co-founder Tamika D. Mallory poses with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Image by Instagram
(JTA) — At least two more Women’s Marches have been canceled, including in New Orleans, where its chapter cited “several issues.”
“Many of the sister marches have asked the leaders of Women’s March, Inc. to resign but as of today, they have yet to do so,” the New Orleans chapter said in its announcement Saturday.
Top leaders of the main organization have been accused of engaging in or condoning anti-Semitism, of not cutting ties with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, and of failing to heed the concerns of its thousands of Jewish backers.
“The controversy is dampening efforts of sister marches to fundraise, enlist involvement, find sponsors and attendee numbers have drastically declined this year. New Orleans is no exception,” the chapter said.
New Orleans has held a Women’s March for the past two years. Marches are scheduled for across the country on Jan. 19.
On Friday, the march in Eureka, in Northern California’s Humboldt County, was canceled over concerns that participants would be “overwhelmingly white, lacking representation from several perspectives in our community,” the group said in a statement. Humboldt County is about 74 percent non-Hispanic white, The Washington Post reported, citing Census Bureau data.
Organizers in Chicago had previously canceled the city’s march, citing the high cost and overextended volunteers.
Actress Rosanna Arquette, who spoke at the 2017 Women’s March in Los Angeles, tweeted her concern about the allegations of anti-Semitism against national leaders. In response, a Women’s March tweet assured supporters that it would take place in Washington, D.C., even during a government shutdown.
As long as anti semitism and division is not a part of your agenda. ✌?
— Rosanna Arquette (@RoArquette) December 29, 2018
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
- 2
Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
- 3
News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
- 4
Fast Forward Student suspended for ‘F— the Jews’ video defends himself on antisemitic podcast
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Israel is choosing to inflict misery on Gaza
-
Fast Forward Police clash with pro-Palestinian protesters in Brooklyn as Columbia library takeover fallout continues
-
Opinion This week proved it: Trump’s approach to antisemitism at Columbia is horribly ineffective
-
Yiddish קאָנצערט לכּבֿוד דעם ייִדישן שרײַבער און רעדאַקטאָר באָריס סאַנדלערConcert honoring Yiddish writer and editor Boris Sandler
דער בעל־שׂימחה האָט יאָרן לאַנג געדינט ווי דער רעדאַקטאָר פֿונעם ייִדישן פֿאָרווערטס.
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.