A few stalwarts of the Women's March are proving not so stalwart.
Organizers of the Humbodlt County, California Women's March have announced cancellation of the event amid fears that the turnout would be "overwhelmingly white."
“Up to this point, the participants have been overwhelmingly white, lacking representation from several perspectives in our community,” a post on the march’s Facebook page read. “Instead of pushing forward with crucial voices absent, the organizing team will take time for more outreach.”
Organizers hope to broaden their appeal and thus be able to stage a more diverse march later, possibly in March to celebrate International Women's Day. The organizers did some soul searching about the roots of their dilemma:
"We recognize the majority of our current leadership team is white, and planning for this event has been centered around our experiences," the statement said. "In recognizing our failure to put enough effort into being more inclusive, we are attempting to make things right by taking this time to create a more balanced leadership team."
"Our goal moving forward is to ensure the voices of women of color are heard and centered when we come together for the furtherance of the rights and protection of women," the statement said.
According to data from the US Census Bureau, Humboldt County is 74 percent non-Hispanic white.
NBC noted that the Humboldt chapter is not an official one of Women's March California.
While some called the decision by the organizers correct, others were angry. A response on the march's Facebook page, for example, urged the forming of a new group of organizers so that the march could go on as scheduled.
The poster said that it is important to "rise up" in protest against "King Trump," adding, "I will march until he and his traitorous, misogynist, white supremacist, Putin compromised administration is GONE!"
Meanwhile, the Chicago Women's March has also announced that it is sitting out this year's march. The announcement cited the energy and expenses that went into an October March to the Polls that netted a 100,000 strong crowd at a Grant's Park rally.
This comes at a time when the Women's March is facing accusations of anti-Semitism among top leaders. Linda Sarsour and Tamika Mallory have longstanding ties to Nation of Islam's Minister Louis Farrakhan, whose disparagement of Jews and Israel is legendary.
The Tablet, a respected Jewish magazine, explored these charges in a blockbuster expose headlined "Is the Women's March Melting Down?" at the end of last year.