共享题干题Demonstrators rally at Los Angeles City Hall during the first Women’s March,held on Jan.21,2017,One day after President Trump’s inauguration.The march drew hundreds of thousands of participants in L.A. An event organized to bring women together is proving to be much more divisive than intended.The annual women’s march in Eureka has been
canceled after organizers decided the planning committee was too white.The move has prompted newfound criticism of the global gatherings that were launched two years ago in protest of the inauguration of President Trump.Many have said the marches are not diverse enough and have accused the organization of being anti-Semitic and homophobic.
The Eureka group,which is not an official Women’s March chapter,said that instead of the planned Jan.19 march,it will focus on organizing an event for March 9,in conjunction with International Women’s Day.The move will allow more time to reach out to women of color and those who identify as gender nonconforming,organizers said in a Facebook post last week.“The local organizers are continuing to meet and discuss how to broaden
representation in the organizing committee to create an event that represents and supports peoples who live here”in Humboldt County,an organizer said in the post.“Up to this point, the participants have been overwhelmingly white,lacking representation from several perspectives in our community."
The decision made by a handful of women in the small town of Eureka-which Census data show is 71% non-Hispanic white-drew mixed reactions,both locally and across the country.Supporters were thrilled the group was taking steps toward increasing its diversity and inclusion.Others,however,said the move was a criticism of people of color for not joining in and that by postponing the march,organizers were placing the burden on participants to make the local women’s march appear less white.“I have deep concerns that people of color are being used as a crutch for the organizing committee failing to do the work it takes to encourage diversity,”Caterina Kein wrote on Facebook.“Please do not blame‘us’ for your failures."
The backlash prompted Women’s March Eureka to release a second statement on Monday noting the decision to cancel the event was based on the lack of diversity among the group’s leadership,not among the march’s attendees.In an interview with KHSU-FM radio, organizer Kelsey Reedy said the original organizers were all white women and that only two
recent additions have increased the diversity of the small group.“It wasn’t just we felt there wasn’t enough representation.There literally was no representation,”she said.
The organizers acknowledged that past attempts at being inclusive have been shallow.“We could have done a lot more,"Reedy said.“We did not push ourselves to really create a space that was welcoming for everyone to be involved.We did reach ou=o several groups led by people of color,but only having a few people in the group that even had those connections means it was pretty limited.”
The larger Women’s March organization has faced other problems,including accusations of being anti-Semitic.Leaders of the national group came under fire last year after co-chair Tamika Mallory attended a February event with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan,in which he said,“The powerful Jews are my enemy.”Between March and
November,the larger group issued three statements in response to criticism that Women’s March leaders are anti-Semitic and homophobic,but it has repeatedly expressed support for its leaders,including Mallory“It’s become clear,amidst this media storm,that our values and our message have-too often-been lost,” the national group said.“That loss caused a lot of harm,and a lot of pain.We should have been faster and clearer in helping people understand our values and our commitment to fighting anti-Semitism.We regret that.”