Civil Rights Activist Booted From Women’s March Over Antisemitism Finds New Place on Mamdani’s Transition Team

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has appointed to his transition team a social justice activist who was allegedly forced out of the Women’s March movement over her ties to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and for allowing antisemitism to “become a part of the platform.”Tamika Mallory is one of approximately two dozen individuals recruited to help Mr. Mamdani enact his signature campaign promise to shift certain public safety responsibilities from the police through a new Department of Community Safety. Her committee is one of 17 advisory groups Mr. Mamdani unveiled Monday to guide his incoming administration on policy and appointments.Ms. Mallory is best known for her leadership role in the 2017 Women’s March, a national demonstration organized to protest President Trump’s inauguration and advocate for women’s rights and other progressive causes. The flagship march in Washington drew massive crowds, with sister marches across the country making it one of the largest single-day demonstrations in American history.In 2018, however, Ms. Mallory came under scrutiny after Tablet magazine reported that she and another march leader, Carmen Perez, had suggested during an early planning meeting in 2016 that Jews “bore a special collective responsibility as exploiters of black and brown people” and repeated the false claim that Jews led the American slave trade.Such debunked allegations feature prominently in “The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews,” a book by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan that historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. described in 1992 as “the bible of the new anti-Semitism.” The Anti-Defamation League has identified Mr. Farrakhan as “one of the most prominent antisemites in America.”Ms. Mallory has denied the Tablet account, though she has repeatedly expressed public support for Mr. Farrakhan. In 2017, she posted a photo with Mr. Farrakhan on Instagram, wishing him happy birthday and calling him “the GOAT.” The following year she attended and promoted a Farrakhan event where he accused “Satanic Jews” of having a “grip on the media” and declared that “the powerful Jews are my enemy.”The Women’s March issued a statement distancing itself from Mr. Farrakhan and condemning “expressions of hatred in all forms.” Later in 2018, one of the march’s original founders, Teresa Shook, accused Ms. Mallory and fellow co-founders Bob Bland and Linda Sarsour — both of whom had also faced criticism over their Farrakhan ties — of having “steered the Movement away from its true course” and called on them to step down.“In opposition to our Unity Principles, they have allowed anti-Semitism, anti-LBGTQIA sentiment and hateful, racist rhetoric to become a part of the platform by their refusal to separate themselves from groups that espouse these racist, hateful beliefs,” she stated. By September 2019, all three had departed the board.Ms. Mallory’s appointment was denounced by the Anti-Defamation League, which cited her Farrakhan ties and “highly insensitive remarks about Jews and money” in calling her “simply the wrong choice for a committee on community safety.”“Given the fact that New York’s Jewish community is facing antisemitism and security threats at unprecedented levels, the mayor-elect needs to appoint someone who will unite, rather than divide, communities,” an ADL spokesman tells the Sun.The Jewish advocacy group has criticized Mr. Mamdani’s positions on Israel and following his election announced that it would track the mayor-elect’s policies and staff appointments to ensure that they promote the safety of Jewish New Yorkers. The platform, called the “Mamdani Monitor,” will highlight “City Hall decisions affecting Jewish New Yorkers, including education policy, budget priorities, and security measures.”

Civil Rights Activist Booted From Women’s March Over Antisemitism Finds New Place on Mamdani’s Transition Team

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