Actress Alyssa Milano has disavowed Linda Sarsour and Tamika Mallory over their refusal to condemn the Jew hatred of Louis Farrakhan.
However, Milano is disavowing Sarsour. But not because of the Islamophobic conspiracies Loomer would like readers to believe.
“Any time that there is any bigotry or anti-Semitism in that respect, it needs to be called out and addressed. I’m disappointed in the leadership of the Women’s March that they haven’t done it adequately,” Milano says now, referring to leaders of the Women’s March who’ve refused to denounce Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan‘s anti-Semitic, homophobic, and transphobic statements.
Women’s March cochair Tamika Mallory sat in the audience while Farrakhan gave a hateful speech in March in which he said, “The powerful Jews are my enemy,” She also received a shout-out from him and posted about the event on social media.
Linda Sarsour strongly defended Mallory against accusations of being complicit in bigotry.
“I don’t think these people have our best interests at heart to make us better people or to disrupt misconceptions or anti-Semitism because trashing a strong black woman and holding her accountable for the words of a man is not the way to bring people together,” she commented on Facebook, referencing the Nation of Islam. “What work are we willing to do and are we willing to be open to the true idea that members of the NOI are not all anti-Semites? Are we cool with broad brushing a whole group?”
The recent mass shooting in which a man who vocally targeted Jewish people on social media took the lives of 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue has deepened the wound of Farrakhan’s remarks and the Women’s March leaders’ refusal to condemn them. A week earlier, Farrakhan tweeted out a speech in which he announced, “I’m not an anti-Semite. I’m anti-Termite.”
Milano has noticed the silence from the Women’s March regarding Farrakhan’s hatemongering and won’t stand for it; nor will she speak at the next Women’s March if it’s still led by Sarsour or Mallory, if asked to make an appearance.
“I would say no at this point. Unfortunate that none of them have come forward against him at this point. Or even given a really good reason why to support them,” she says.
While I contend that Sarsour’s Jew hatred manifests itself beyond mere silence in the face of Farrakhan’s, and there is much else Alyssa Milano and I disagree on, I have to give credit where credit is due, in accordance with the Jewish concept of L’chaf zechut.
