Linda Sarsour
Linda Sarsour | |
|---|---|
 Sarsour in May 2016 | |
| Born | 1980 (age 43–44) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.[1] |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Kingsborough Community College Brooklyn College |
| Occupation(s) | Activist, writer |
| Known for | Co-chair of the 2017 Women's March |
Linda Sarsour (born 1980) is a Palestinian-American progressive political activist and former executive director of the Arab American Association of New York.[2]
Early life
Sarsour is the oldest of seven children born to a pair of Palestinian immigrants. She was raised in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and went to John Jay High School in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Sarsour was married in an arranged marriage at the age of 17. She had three children by her mid-20s.[3] After high school, she took courses at Kingsborough Community College and Brooklyn College with the goal of becoming an English teacher.[4]
Career
After the September 11 attacks, Sarsour began to volunteer for the Arab American Association of New York.[3] She worked to have Muslim holidays recognized in New York City's public schools, which now close for Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.[4] She eventually became the organization's executive director[5] and a fellow at the New York University Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.[3]
Sarsour has appeared in The Hijabi Monologues, a performance art piece based on stories about veiling.[6]
After the Arab American Association of New York's executive director was killed in a car accident in 2011, Sarsour was appointed to the position, having already served in a variety of roles at the organization.[7] As director, she advocated for passage of the Community Safety Act in New York, which created an independent office to review police policy and expanded the definition of bias-based profiling in New York. Sarsour and her organization pressed for the law after instances of what they saw as biased policing in local neighborhoods, and it passed over the objections of the city's mayor and police chief.[8]
Political activism
Sarsour has spoken of the importance of the role of her and her former organization in building a progressive movement in the United States.[2]
Sarsour is an alumna of the Women's Media Center'sProgressive Women’s Voices Media and Leadership Training Program.[9][10]
“We are in a critical moment as a country and I feel compelled to focus my energy on the national level and building the capacity of the progressive movement, so it is with a heavy heart that I announce that I will be leaving my post as the executive director of the Arab American Association of New York.”
—Linda Sarsour, in her resignation letter from her position as executive director of the Brooklyn-based Arab American Association of New York.[11]
In 2016, Sarsour endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders for President of the United States.[12]
Teresa Shook and Bob Bland recruited Sarsour to be a co-chair of the 2017 Women's March, held the day after the inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States.[13]
After a Jewish cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri was vandalized in an apparent anti-Semitic incident in February 2017, Sarsour worked with other Muslim activists to launch a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to repair the damage and restore the gravesites. More than $125,000 was raised, and Sarsour pledged to donate any funds not needed at the cemetery to other Jewish community centers or sites targeted by vandalism. She said the fundraising effort would "send a united message from the Jewish and Muslim communities that there is no place for this type of hate, desecration, and violence in America."[14][15] Brigitte S. Rosenberg, a St. Louis rabbi whose congregants have family members buried in the vandalized cemetery, called the campaign "a beautiful gesture."[16]
The terrorism analyst Steven Emerson has argued that Sarsour has not worked to oppose religious groups that subjugate women and minorities.[17] Activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali and columnist Candice Malcolm have criticized Sarsour for her comments on Sharia religious law, the status of women in Saudi Arabia, and some female public figures.[18][19] In an op-ed that was published by The New York Times, Emma-Kate Symons described Sarsour as "a religiously conservative veiled Muslim woman" and criticized the inconsistency of her role in ordering pro-life women out of the 2017 Women's March despite what Symons alleged to be Sarsour's association with an illiberal ideology that was connected to her "fundamentalist worldview" over female body coverings.[20]
After the Women's March, Sarsour was reportedly targeted on the internet by false reports that she supported Islamic State militants and favored replacing the U.S. legal system with Islamic religious law. Sarsour described the attacks as the work of "fake news purveyors" and "right-wing media outlets recirculating false information," and supporters responded to the online criticism with the Twitter hashtag #IMarchWithLinda.[21]
Sarsour does not support either Hamas or the Palestinian authority and has expressed support for Israel's right to exist, but also believes in nonviolent Palestinian resistance to Israel[10][21] and has frequently criticized Israel's policies in the occupied territories.[22][17][21] She has acknowledged that members of her extended family have been arrested on accusations of supporting Hamas but said they were not necessarily charged with crimes and that their situation was "just the reality of Palestinians living under military occupation."[21][10] She believes that a two-state solution cannot work because of boundary and settler issues and instead advocates a one-state solution under conditions that would foster "peace and justice and equality for all."[10]
Personal life
Sarsour lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.[3]
References
Notes
Citations
- ^ Mitter, Siddhartha (May 9, 2015). "Linda Sarsour: New Generation of Muslim Activists – Al Jazeera America". Al Jazeera America. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
- ^ a b
- Katinas, Paula (February 21, 2017). "Sarsour leaving post at Arab American Association of NY". Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
We are in a critical moment as a country and I feel compelled to focus my energy on the national level and building the capacity of the progressive movement, so it is with a heavy heart that I announce that I will be leaving my post as the executive director of the Arab American Association of New York.
- Alter, Charlotte (January 20, 2017). "How the Women's March Has United Progressives of All Stripes". TIME. TIME.
Bland quickly realized that in order to transform the march from an angry Facebook group into a progressive coalition, she'd need help. She enlisted veteran organizers Tamika Mallory, Carmen Perez and Linda Sarsour as national co-chairs..."people are expecting us to show up at a march and talk about our bodies and our reproductive rights," says co-chair Sarsour, executive director of the Arab American Association of New York. Instead, she says, "we're bringing together all the progressive movements.
- Walters, Joanna (January 14, 2017). "Women's March on Washington set to be one of America's biggest protests". The Guardian. The Guardian.
We have no choice. We need to stand up against an administration that threatens everything we believe in, in what we hope will become one of the largest grassroots, progressive movements ever seen, said Sarsour.
- Katinas, Paula (February 21, 2017). "Sarsour leaving post at Arab American Association of NY". Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
- ^ a b c d Mishkin, Budd (July 26, 2011). "One On 1: Arab American Association Director Finds Time For It All". NY1. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
- ^ a b Feuer, Alan (August 7, 2015). "Linda Sarsour Is a Brooklyn Homegirl in a Hijab". The New York Times. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
- ^ Wilner, Michael (January 24, 2017). "Linda Sarsour, Women's March Organizer, Works to Link Civil Rights Struggles to Palestinian Cause". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
- ^ Sahar Amer (September 9, 2014). What is Veiling?. Edinburgh University Press. p. 228. ISBN 978-0-7486-9684-0.
- ^ Feuer, Alan (August 7, 2015). "Linda Sarsour Is a Brooklyn Homegirl in a Hijab". The New York Times. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ "Linda Sarsour Is a Brooklyn Homegirl in a Hijab". August 7, 2015.
{{cite web}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ "WHO WE ARE: Linda Sarsour". WMC.
- ^ a b c d Budd Mishkin (July 26, 2011). "One On 1: Arab American Association Director Finds Time For It All". News NY 1.
I do believe that Israel has the right to exist," says Sarsour. "I mean I wouldn't want — I mean where are they gonna go? That's why I want a one-state solution. I think we can all live together in one state with peace and justice and equality for all.
- ^ Katinas, Paula (February 21, 2017). "Sarsour leaving post at Arab American Association of NY". Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
- ^ Neidig, Harper (April 9, 2016). "Sanders campaign releases Spike Lee-produced ad". The Hill. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
- ^ Alter, Charlotte (January 20, 2017). "The Women's March on Washington United Progressives". Time. Time Inc. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ Muslims ‘Overjoyed’ As Donations Pour In To Repair Vandalized St. Louis Jewish Cemetery. Hanau, Shira. The Forward, 22 February 2017
- ^ Jewish governor of Missouri, Muslim activists pitching in to repair vandalized Jewish cemetery. Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 21 February 2017
- ^ Kestenbaum, Sam. "Muslim Campaign For Jewish Cemetery Praised As ‘Beautiful Gesture’ — But Some Question Motives." The Forward. 23 February 2017. 23 February 2017.
- ^ a b Emerson, Steven (January 27, 2017). "Women's March Figure Linda Sarsour's Background, Ties". Retrieved January 30, 2017.
- ^ Malcom, Candice (January 27, 2017). "The new feminists are regressive". Toronto Sun. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
- ^ "'Defender of Sharia': Ayaan Hirsi Ali Slams Women's March Organizer". Fox News. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
- ^ SYMONS, EMMA-KATE (01.19.17). "Agenda for Women's March has been hijacked by organizers bent on highlighting women's differences". NYT. NYT.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b c d HAJELA, DEEPTI (Jan. 26, 2017). "Attacks target Muslim-American activist after DC march". AP. AP.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Wilner, Michael (January 24, 2017). "Linda Sarsour, Women's March organizer, works to link civil rights struggles to Palestinian cause". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved February 12, 2017.
External links
