TERESA SHOOK – Not happy with march leaders

The Hana woman who ignited the Women’s March in 2017 wants to restore aloha to the movement by calling on Women’s March Inc. co-chairs to step down in light of the recent backlash over ties to radical leaders and alleged racism.

In a news release Monday morning, Teresa Shook, who is not part of Women’s March Inc., said the co-chairs of the entity have steered the movement away from its true course.

“I have waited, hoping they would right the ship, but they have not,” said Shook, who marched with the co-chairs on their historic Women’s March on Washington, D.C., a day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Shook worked with the organizers but did not want to be part of the incorporation of the group.

“In opposition to our Unity Principles, they have allowed anti-Semitism, anti-LGBTQIA 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,” Shook said in the news release.

Co-chairwomen Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour have been criticized for praising Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. The other co-chairs are Carmen Perez and Bob Bland. Shook names all of them and asks them all to step down.

Shook said in a phone interview from Hana on Monday that a humanitarian award for the group from a German foundation recently was rescinded over one of the leaders anti-Semitic actions. Also, the organization has come under fire from actresses Alyssa Milano and Debra Messing for similar reasons.

“It really came to a head in the last three to four weeks,” Shook said “People (are) asking me, a lot, a lot, a lot of people (are) asking me, please say something publicly.”

Shook said her intentions are not to create more dissension, but for the group to return to its roots of love, solidarity and togetherness without hate speech.

And to be as one in the “aloha spirit kind of way,” she said.

The movement leaders issued a public response on the Women’s March Facebook page Monday afternoon.

The four leaders thanked Shook for her contribution to the movement but said that she acted “irresponsibly, as have other organizations attempting in this movement to take advantage of our growing pains to try and fracture our network.”

“Groups that have benefited from our work but refuse to organize in accordance with our Unity Principles clearly have no interest in building the world our principles envision,” the post said.

“We are imperfect. We don’t know everything, and we have caused harm. At times, we have responded with hurt,” the group said. “But we are committed to learning. We will continue to work through the good and the bad, the impact and the harm — of building an intersectional movement that our daughters’ daughters can be proud of.

“We are grateful for the people who HAVE been with us for the past two years, wrestling with the challenges and opportunities of what we are trying to build. Our ongoing work speaks for itself. That’s our focus, not armchair critiques from those who want to take credit for our labor.”

Before the Women’s March group issued the statement, Shook said she was sad to have to issue her public criticism of the group. Five days ago, she posted on Facebook a more subtle message about the original intent of the march.

She was encouraged by others to officially release a statement.

“As Women’s March founder, I am stepping up to bring focus back to the Unity Principles on which our movement began, and with the support of all of those who marched and have continued to march, I pledge to support grassroots, decentralized leadership promoting a safe, worldwide community devoid of hate speech, bigotry and racism,” Shook said in her news release.

The grandmother and former attorney said her phone and social media accounts were “just blowing up” after she released the statement Monday. Most of the feedback is positive, but she said that some of the comments were not so nice on Twitter.

Shook started the movement after feeling discouraged and numb over Trump winning the presidential election. She took to Facebook to connect with others soon after the election. She got positive feedback about a march on Washington, D.C., and the effort snowballed into marches all over the world, even on Maui.

Shook said Monday that the march on the nation’s capital wasn’t against Trump. It was about a positive message of solidarity, women’s rights and inclusiveness.

“We got enough going on now,” she said of the negativity. “We need to model what we want. We can’t add to the rhetoric.”

Shook, who originally is from Santa Cruz, Calif., moved to Hana in 2000. She was brought to East Maui on vacation by a friend. The two were in a breast cancer survivor group in California.

Shook fell in love with East Maui and continued to practice law while flying back-and-forth to Santa Cruz. She has since retired.

Shook will soon leave to spend Thanksgiving in Seattle with her two sons and grandchildren. She said this will give her some breathing room.

But first, she would like “love and aloha” to return to the organization, similar to the marches where there were no incidents of violence or hate.

“We proved we can do it,” she said.

* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.