Tamika Mallory

Last updated

Tamika Mallory
Tamika Mallory 2020.jpg
Mallory in 2020
Born
Tamika Danielle Mallory

(1980-09-04) September 4, 1980 (age 44) [1]
Manhattan, New York, U.S. [1]
Alma mater The College of New Rochelle [2]
Occupation Activist
Years active2002–present
Known forNational chair for the Women's March
Children1

Tamika Danielle Mallory (born September 4, 1980 [1] ) is an American activist. She was one of the leading organizers of the 2017 Women's March, for which she and her three other co-chairs were recognized in the TIME 100 that year. [3] [4] She received the Coretta Scott King Legacy Award from the Coretta Scott King Center for Cultural and Intellectual Freedom in 2018. [5] Mallory is a proponent of gun control, feminism, and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Contents

Personal life

Mallory was born in Harlem, a neighborhood of New York City's Manhattan borough, to Stanley and Voncile Mallory. [2] She grew up in the Manhattanville Houses in Manhattan and moved to Co-op City in the Bronx when she was 14. [6] Her parents were activists and founding members of Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network (NAN), a leading civil rights organization throughout the United States. [7] Their work in NAN influenced Mallory and her interests in social justice and civil rights. Mallory became a staff member of NAN when she was 15 years old [7] and later was named its executive director in 2009. [8]

Mallory is a single mother to her son Tarique. [6] Her son's father, Jason Ryans, was murdered in 2001. [9] Mallory explains that her experience with NAN taught her to react to this tragedy with activism. Her son is a member of NAN. [10]

In 2018, Mallory drew criticism for her attendance at an event with, and past praise for, controversial Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, which prompted calls for her resignation from the 2019 Women's March. [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] Following later allegations of antisemitism, Mallory left the organization in September 2019. [16]

Political activism

Mallory speaking at the 2017 Tax March Tamika Mallory 2017 (cropped).jpg
Mallory speaking at the 2017 Tax March

At age 11, Mallory became a member of NAN to learn more about the Civil Rights Movement. By the time Mallory turned 15, she was a volunteer staff member at NAN. Mallory went on to become the youngest Executive Director at NAN in 2011. After working at NAN for 14 years, [7] Mallory stepped down from her position as executive director in 2013 to follow her own activism goals, but still takes part in NAN's work, attending rallies and recruiting members.

In 2014, Mallory was selected to serve on the transition committee of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. During that time, she helped create the NYC Crisis Management System, an official gun violence prevention program that awards $20 million annually to gun violence prevention organizations. [17] She also served as the co-chair for a new initiative through the Crisis Management System, Gun Violence Awareness Month. [18]

Mallory is the president of Mallory Consulting, a strategic planning and event management firm in New York City. She is on the board of directors for Gathering for Justice, an organization aimed at ending child incarceration and working to eliminate policies that produce mass incarceration. [19]

In 2018, Mallory criticized Starbucks for including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an organization whose stated mission is to "fight anti-Semitism and all forms of hate", [20] in a company-wide racial bias training after the arrest of two black men at a Starbucks in Philadelphia. In a tweet, she accused the ADL of "attack[ing] black and brown people" and wrote, "ADL sends US police to Israel to learn their military practices. This is deeply troubling. Let’s not even talk abt their attacks against .@blacklivesmatter." [21] Starbucks subsequently dropped the ADL from its anti-bias training, a decision Liel Leibovitz of Tablet said was "giving in to bigotry." [22] [23]

2017 Women's March

Mallory, Bob Bland, Carmen Perez, and Linda Sarsour organized the 2017 Women's March, a worldwide protest on January 21, 2017. The march was a protest against the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, and also advocated women's rights, immigration reform, LGBTQIA rights, health-care reform, environmental reform, racial justice, and racial equality.

The leaders of the Women's March mobilized in Washington, D.C., and sister marches occurred worldwide. An estimated 500,000 people attended the Washington, D.C., march. [24] The Women's March website said that total worldwide participation was nearly five million. [25] According to The Independent , the march may have been the largest single-day protest in U.S. history. [26] Sarsour, Mallory, Bland, and Perez were recognized in the TIME 100 of 2017. [4] [3]

Organization and planning

Mallory in 2020 Tamika Mallory Feb 2020.png
Mallory in 2020

The Women's March idea formed after Trump's election. A grandmother in Hawaii, Teresa Shook, created a Facebook event for a march in Washington, D.C., following the inauguration. Meanwhile, Bob Bland, a mother living in New York City, also created an event. Within a single day hundreds of thousands of individuals were "attending" the march's Facebook event. The surge of interest catalyzed the organizing that led to the 2017 Women's March.

Bland's and Shook's events were merged. Bland reached out to Mallory, Perez, and Sarsour, to include voices of color. The march organizers sought to integrate many different leaders and voices to create a decentralized structure. The intention was to incorporate people from every walk of life.

Mallory has said that while the march was in direct response to Trump's election, its larger concern was social problems in the United States. [27] The march gave women, minorities, people of color, LGBTQIA, and others a space to voice their concerns, fears, and feelings. Mallory explains that she took on this responsibility because she "wanted to ensure that Black women's voices are upheld, uplifted, and that our issues are addressed, but this cannot happen unless we take a seat at the table". [27]

Mallory's work within the Women's March was geared toward creating space for unrepresented voices in social activism. She felt that previous marches had failed to recognize the intersectional aspects within social justice, such as race, class, gender, nationality, and sexuality. According to Mallory, the organizers worked to make the march as inclusive as possible in order to promote the most change. [28]

One of the largest supporters of the march was Planned Parenthood. Mallory explains that they partnered with Planned Parenthood because they "provide women with life-saving health services". [27]

Later activities

After the march, the organizers published a "10 Actions for the First 100 Days" campaign, in order to continue the momentum of social activism gained from the march. [29] The first action was to write a postcard to Senators about issues of concern. Organizers provided a template on their website along with ways to send the postcards. [30] The second action was to either host or attend a "huddle," an informal meeting to discuss ways to transform feelings into local and national action. [31] The third action was to attend or host a "Hear Our Voice" event, a more formal version of action 2, in order to stimulate continuous change. [32]

In 2021, Mallory released her first book, State of Emergency, with Black Privilege Publishing through Atria Books at Simon & Schuster. Mallory travels the world speaking on social injustices that plague Black communities. Drawn "from a lifetime of frontline culture-shifting advocacy, organizing, and fighting for equal justice, State of Emergency makes Mallory's demand for change and shares the keys to effective activism both for those new to and long-committed to the defense of Black lives”. [33]

2019 Women's March

Mallory was one of the co-presidents of the 2019 Women's March. She assumed leadership of the march along with her co-chairs from the 2017 March: Linda Sarsour, Carmen Perez, and Bob Bland. [34]

Mallory has been criticized for her relationship with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and support for Assata Shakur, a former Black Liberation Army member convicted of murder. [35] [36] [37] On February 25, 2018, Mallory attended a Saviours' Day speech led by Farrakhan where he made various antisemitic remarks, and later posted positive comments about the event on social media accounts. [38] [39] This led some supporters of the march to call for her and other Women's March leaders to resign. [34] In December 2018, The New York Times reported that "charges of anti-Semitism" stemming partly from the Farrakhan issue as well as Mallory's allegedly berating a Jewish organizer of the Women's March "are now roiling the movement and overshadowing plans for more marches next month". She disputed that they made such remarks. [34]

Mallory also responded by releasing a statement that condemned racism, anti-Semitism and homophobia, also writing, "I do not wish to be held responsible for the words of others when my own history shows that I stand in opposition to them." She added that she believed building coalitions required working with people with whom she disagreed. [40] [41] [42] An early Women's March co-founder, Vanessa Wruble, said that she had been "pushed out" of the Women's March by Mallory and others because of her Jewish identity. [34] Another organizer, Evvie Harmon, said that she witnessed Mallory and co-chair Perez berating Wruble, saying "your people hold all the wealth", remarks that Harmon described in an account to The New York Times and Tablet . [43] [34] Mallory and Perez disputed that they made those remarks or that Wruble was mistreated for being Jewish. [34] On The View , Mallory stated that she didn't agree with all of Farrakhan's statements and wouldn't use his language, but declined to condemn his previous antisemitic statements. [44] In an interview, when Margaret Hoover asked Mallory if Israel has a right to exist, Mallory responded that "all people have a right exist". [45]

George Floyd protests

Mallory participated in the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul in May 2020. In a speech at a news conference there, she accused some people of being more concerned with property destruction, particularly that of Target stores, than with justice for the murder of George Floyd. She also alleged that in Minneapolis paid instigators were responsible for property damage and arson. [46]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis Farrakhan</span> American religious leader (born 1933)

Louis Farrakhan is an American religious leader who heads the Nation of Islam (NOI), a black nationalist organization. Farrakhan is notable for his leadership of the 1995 Million Man March in Washington, D.C., and for his rhetoric that has been widely denounced as antisemitic and racist.

A number of organizations and academics consider the Nation of Islam (NOI) to be antisemitic. The NOI has engaged in Holocaust denial, and exaggerates the role of Jews in the African slave trade; mainstream historians, such as Saul S. Friedman, have said Jews had a negligible role. The NOI has repeatedly rejected charges made against it as false and politically motivated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maxine Waters</span> American politician (born 1938)

Maxine Moore Waters is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for California's 43rd congressional district since 1991. The district, numbered as the 29th district from 1991 to 1993 and as the 35th district from 1993 to 2013, includes much of southern Los Angeles, as well as portions of Gardena, Inglewood and Torrance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Greenblatt</span> American entrepreneur and executive

Jonathan Greenblatt is an American entrepreneur, corporate executive, and the sixth national director and CEO of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Prior to heading the ADL, Greenblatt served in the White House as Special Assistant to Barack Obama and Director of the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marc Lamont Hill</span> American academic, writer and activist (born 1978)

Marc Lamont Hill is an American academic, author, activist, and television personality. He is a professor of urban education at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City.

Mae Mallory was an activist of the Civil Rights Movement and a Black Power movement leader active in the 1950s and 1960s. She is best known as an advocate of school desegregation and of black armed self-defense.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-Defamation League</span> International Jewish organization

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is a New York–based international non-governmental organization that was founded to combat antisemitism, bigotry and discrimination. ADL is also known for its pro-Israel advocacy. Its current CEO is Jonathan Greenblatt. ADL headquarters are located in Murray Hill, in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The ADL has 25 regional offices in the United States including a Government Relations Office in Washington, D.C., as well as an office in Israel and staff in Europe. In its 2019 annual information Form 990, ADL reported total revenues of $92 million, the vast majority from contributions and grants. Its total operating revenue is reported at $80.9 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SayHerName</span> American social movement

#SayHerName is a social movement that seeks to raise awareness for Black women victims of police brutality and anti-Black violence in the United States. The movement's name was created by the African American Policy Forum (AAPF). #SayHerName aims to highlight the gender-specific ways in which Black women are disproportionately affected by fatal acts of racial injustice. In an effort to create a large social media presence alongside existing racial justice campaigns, such as #BlackLivesMatter and #BlackGirlsMatter, the AAPF coined the hashtag #SayHerName in December 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">20th Anniversary of the Million Man March: Justice or Else</span> 2015 protest in Washington, D.C., U.S.

20th Anniversary of the Million Man March: Justice or Else, sometimes abridged as Justice or Else or stylized as Justice or Else!, was a rally held at the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., on October 10, 2015 to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the Million Man March. The event was organized by Louis Farrakhan, and participants rallied in support of police reform and to raise awareness about discrimination against black people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Criticism of Starbucks</span> Criticisms of Starbucks corporation

Starbucks, an American coffee company and coffeehouse chain, is the subject of multiple controversies. Public and employee criticism against the company has come from around the world, including a wide range issues from tax avoidance in Europe, anti-competitive practices in the United States, human rights issues in multiple countries and labor issues involving union busting, questions about pay equity and ethics in partnerships in Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linda Sarsour</span> American Muslim feminist activist

Linda Sarsour is an American political activist. She was co-chair of the 2017 Women's March, the 2017 Day Without a Woman, and the 2019 Women's March. She is also a former executive director of the Arab American Association of New York. She and her Women's March co-chairs were profiled in Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People" in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 Women's March</span> Worldwide political rallies for womens rights

The Women's March was a worldwide protest on January 21, 2017, the day after the first inauguration of Donald Trump as the president of the United States. It was prompted by Trump's policy positions and rhetoric, which were and are seen as misogynistic and representative as a threat to the rights of women. It was at the time the largest single-day protest in U.S. history, being surpassed 3 years later by the George Floyd protests. The goal of the annual marches is to advocate legislation and policies regarding human rights and other issues, including women's rights, immigration reform, healthcare reform, disability justice, reproductive rights, the environment, LGBTQ rights, racial equality, freedom of religion, workers' rights and tolerance. According to organizers, the goal was to "send a bold message to our new administration on their first day in office, and to the world that women's rights are human rights".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Bland</span> NYC fashion designer and activist

Mari Lynn Foulger, better known as Bob Bland, is an American fashion designer and activist. Bland co-chaired the 2017 Women's March but later resigned from the 2019 Women's March board following accusations of antisemitism and various internal controversies. She is the CEO of Manufacture New York, promoting "ethical work practices and sustainable fashion".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Day Without a Woman</span> 2017 strike action

A Day Without a Woman was a strike action held on March 8, 2017, on International Women's Day. The strike, which was organized by two different groups—the 2017 Women's March and a separate International Women's Strike movement—asked that women not work that day to protest the policies of the administration of Donald Trump. Planning began before Trump's November 2016 election. The movement was adopted and promoted by the Women's March, and recommended actions inspired by the "Bodega Strike" and the Day Without Immigrants.

Carmen Beatrice Perez is an American activist and Chicana feminist who has worked on issues of civil rights including mass incarceration, women's rights and gender equity, violence prevention, racial healing and community policing. She is the President and CEO of The Gathering for Justice, a nonprofit founded by Harry Belafonte which is dedicated to ending child incarceration and eliminating the racial disparities in the criminal justice system. She was one of four national co-chairs of the 2017 Women's March.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vanessa Wruble</span> American activist

Vanessa Wruble is an American entrepreneur, journalist, and activist. In 2017, Wruble co-founded and served as Head of Campaign Operations of the 2017 Women's March and founded March On where she is executive director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 Women's March</span> American protest march in January 2019

The 2019 Women's March was a protest that occurred on January 19, 2019, in America. It follows the 2017 Women's March and 2018 Women's March.

This timeline of antisemitism chronicles the facts of antisemitism, hostile actions or discrimination against Jews as a religious or ethnic group, in the 21st century. It includes events in the history of antisemitic thought, actions taken to combat or relieve the effects of antisemitism, and events that affected the prevalence of antisemitism in later years. The history of antisemitism can be traced from ancient times to the present day.

Teresa Shook is a retired American lawyer from Indiana who now lives in Hawaii. She is best known as the founder of the Women's March.

Nathan "Nate" Perlmutter was the American executive director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) from 1979 to 1987. Perlmutter joined the ADL in 1949, serving as regional director in Detroit, Miami, and New York until 1964. He became associate national director of the American Jewish Committee from 1965 to 1969. After that, he rejoined the ADL as assistant national director from 1973 to 1979, at which point he became national director. He served as ADL national director until his death in 1987. From 1969 to 1973 Perlmutter was vice president of Brandeis University.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Tamika Mallory". Archives of Women's Political Communication. Iowa State University; Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  2. 1 2 Abdul-Aleem, Maryam (April 12, 2011). "Tamika Mallory: Young and powerful new executive director of NAN". New York Amsterdam News . Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  3. 1 2 Gillibrand, Kirsten (April 20, 2017). "Women's March Leaders". Time . Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  4. 1 2 Al-Sibai, Noor (April 20, 2017). "The Women's March Organizers Made The 'Time' 100 Most Influential People List". Bustle . Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  5. ↑ Bogart, Devero (April 26, 2018). "Social justice activists honored with Coretta Scott King legacy awards". WDTN. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
  6. 1 2 Barker, Cryil Josh (October 24, 2013). "Tamika Mallory: The Beauty of Activism". New York Amsterdam News . Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 Keck, Catie (January 20, 2017). "Meet Tamika Mallory, the Lifelong Activist Who Organized the Women's March on Washington". Complex . Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  8. ↑ Press Release (July 23, 2009). "National Action Network Makes New Appointments". National Action Network. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  9. ↑ Nicole, Einbinder (July 13, 2017). "This Is Why Hundreds Of Women Are Going After The NRA". Bustle . Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  10. ↑ Serwer, Adam (March 11, 2018). "Why Tamika Mallory Won't Condemn Farrakhan". The Atlantic . Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  11. ↑ "America's Midterms — The Blue Wave". Manhattan Neighborhood Network. November 10, 2018. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  12. ↑ Stockman, Farah (December 23, 2018). "Women's March Roiled by Accusations of Anti-Semitism". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  13. ↑ Yang, Allie (January 14, 2019). "Women's March co-president Tamika Mallory discusses controversial relationship with Louis Farrakhan". ABC News . Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  14. ↑ Flood, Brian (January 14, 2019). "'The View' grills Women's March co-founder Tamika Mallory over ties to Louis Farrakhan". Fox News . Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  15. ↑ Wines, Michael; Stockman, Farah (January 19, 2019). "Smaller Crowds Turn Out for Third Annual Women's March Events". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  16. ↑ Stockman, Farah (September 16, 2019). "Three Leaders of Women's March Group Step Down After Controversies". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  17. ↑ "De Blasio Administration, City Council Expand Citywide Initiative to Reduce Gun Violence". Government of New York City. Press office of City Hall. August 13, 2014. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  18. ↑ Odesanya, Olayemi (April 20, 2017). "Tamika Mallory and Nicole Paultre-Bell host third Black Lives Matter Summit at LaGuardia Community College". New York Amsterdam News . Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  19. ↑ "The Story of the Gathering". The Gathering For Justice. Archived from the original on April 21, 2021. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  20. ↑ "Who We Are". Anti-Defamation League . Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  21. ↑ Pink, Aiden (April 18, 2018). "Women's March Leaders Slam Starbucks For Tapping ADL". The Forward . Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  22. ↑ Hanna, Andrew (April 30, 2018). "Starbucks drops Jewish group from bias training". Politico . Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  23. ↑ Leibovitz, Liel (April 30, 2018). "The ADL Kicked Out of Leading Starbucks' Diversity Training". Tablet . Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  24. ↑ Wallace, Tim; Parlapiano, Alicia (January 22, 2017). "Crowd Scientists Say Women's March in Washington Had 3 Times as Many People as Trump's Inauguration". The New York Times . Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  25. ↑ "Sister Marches". womensmarch.com. Archived from the original on February 24, 2018.
  26. ↑ Broomfield, Matt (January 23, 2017). "Women's March against Donald Trump is the largest day of protests in US history, say political scientists" . The Independent . Archived from the original on May 26, 2022. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  27. 1 2 3 Wilson, Wendy L. (January 21, 2017). "Women Marching for Justice in a New Era: A Chat With Activist Tamika Mallory". Ebony . Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  28. ↑ Cusumano, Katherine (January 19, 2017). "The Women of the Women's March: Meet the Activists Who Are Planning One of the Largest Demonstrations in American History". W . Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  29. ↑ Shamus, Kristen Jordan (January 22, 2017). "Women's March launches 10 actions for first 100 days". Detroit Free Press . Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  30. ↑ "Action One – Postcards". Women's March on Washington. Archived from the original on December 28, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
  31. ↑ "Action 2 – Huddle". Women's March on Washington. Archived from the original on January 29, 2019. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
  32. ↑ "Action 3 – Hear Our Voice". Women's March on Washington. Archived from the original on December 28, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
  33. ↑ Mallory, Tamika (2020). Simon and Schuster. Simon and Schuster. ISBN   9781982173470.
  34. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Stockman, Farah (December 23, 2018). "Women's March Roiled by Accusations of Anti-Semitism". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved December 31, 2018.
  35. ↑ Weiss, Bari (August 1, 2017). "When Progressives Embrace Hate". The New York Times.
  36. ↑ "The feminist Farrakhan fans who organized the Women's March". The Times of Israel.
  37. ↑ "Supporter of homophobic, anti-Semitic U.S. religious leader to speak at NDP convention".
  38. ↑ "Farrakhan Rails Against Jews, Israel, and the U.S. Government in Wide-Ranging Saviours' Day Speech". Anti-Defamation League.
  39. ↑ "Women's March Co-President Attends Louis Farrakhan Rally – Again". The Forward. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
  40. ↑ Lemieux, Jamilah (March 7, 2018). "[EXCLUSIVE] Tamika Mallory Speaks: 'Wherever My People Are Is Where I Must Be'". News One.
  41. ↑ Pagano, John-Paul (March 8, 2018). "The Women's March Has a Farrakhan Problem". The Atlantic. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
  42. ↑ Lang, Marissa J. (November 21, 2019). "Anger over Farrakhan ties prompts calls for Women's March leaders to resign". Washington Post . Retrieved November 27, 2018.
  43. ↑ McSweeney, Leah; Siegel, Jacob (December 10, 2018). "Is the Women's March Melting Down?". Tablet Magazine. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  44. ↑ "Tamika Mallory fails to condemn Farrakhan's antisemitism on 'The View' - Diaspora - Jerusalem Post". www.jpost.com. January 15, 2019. Retrieved January 15, 2019.
  45. ↑ Kampeas, Ron (January 19, 2019). "Women's March Leader Wouldn't Say in Interview Whether Israel Has Right to Exist". Haaretz . Retrieved January 24, 2019.
  46. ↑ Regan, Sheila; Klemko, Robert; Johnson, Jenna (May 30, 2020). "As fear settles over Minneapolis, protests and violent clashes spread across the U.S." Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved July 8, 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.