Linda Sarsour facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Linda Sarsour
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Sarsour in 2016
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| Born | 1980 (age 44–45) New York City, U.S.
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| Known for | Co-chair of the 2017 Women's March |
Linda Sarsour (born 1980) 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.
A Muslim of Palestinian descent, Sarsour first gained attention for protesting police surveillance of American Muslims, later becoming involved in other civil rights issues such as police brutality, feminism, immigration policy, and mass incarceration. She has also organized Black Lives Matter demonstrations and was the lead plaintiff in a suit challenging the legality of the Trump travel ban.
Her political activism has been praised by some liberals and progressives, while her stance and remarks on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have been criticized by some conservatives and Jewish leaders and organizations. Sarsour has advocated for Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories and expressed support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. Sarsour, Bob Bland, and Tamika Mallory stepped down from the Women's March organization in September 2019.
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Early life
Sarsour was born in Brooklyn, New York, the eldest of seven children of Palestinian immigrants. Her father owned a small market in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, called Linda's. She was raised in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and attended John Jay High School in Park Slope. After high school, she took courses at Kingsborough Community College and Brooklyn College with the goal of becoming an English teacher.
Political activism
Arab American Association of New York
Sarsour's early activism included advocating for the civil rights of American Muslims following the September 11 attacks. Shortly before 9/11, Basemah Atweh, a relative and founder of the Arab American Association of New York, asked Sarsour to volunteer for the organization. Atweh, who held a prominent political role uncommon for a Muslim woman, became Sarsour's mentor.
When Sarsour and Atweh were returning from the 2005 gala opening of the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, their car was struck by a tractor-trailer. Atweh died of her injuries, and two other passengers suffered from broken bones. Sarsour, who was driving, was not seriously injured. She returned to work immediately, saying of Atweh, "This is where she wanted me to be". She was named to succeed Atweh as executive director of the association at age 25. Over the next several years she expanded the scope of the organization, building its budget from $50,000 to $700,000 annually.
Sarsour initially gained attention for protesting police surveillance of American Muslims. As director of the Arab American Association of New York, she advocated for passage of the Community Safety Act in New York, which created an independent office to review police policy and widen the definition of bias-based profiling in the state. She and the organization pressed for the law after instances of what they saw as biased policing in local neighborhoods, and it passed over the objections of then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg and then-Police Chief Raymond W. Kelly. Sarsour also played a part in the successful campaign to have Islamic holidays recognized in New York City's public schools, which started observing Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr in 2015.
According to a 2017 article in The New York Times, Sarsour "has tackled issues like immigration policy, mass incarceration, stop-and-frisk and the New York City Police Department's spying operations on Muslims — all of which have largely inured her to hate-tinged criticism".
Sarsour has been hailed by some as a symbol of empowerment and "shattering stereotypes of Muslim women". In a dual interview with Iranian feminist activist Masih Alinejad about the practice of veiling, Sarsour elaborated on her views that the hijab is a spiritual act and not a symbol of oppression, and stressed the Islamophobia experienced by hijabi women in the West. Alinejad accused Sarsour of double standards, saying that Western Muslims in general, and Sarsour in particular, often fail to condemn compulsory hijab in the Middle East. Alinejad also said that if Sarsour is concerned with women's rights, she can not use the hijab "which is the most visible symbol of oppression in the Middle East" as a symbol of resistance.
Black Lives Matter
Following the shooting of Michael Brown, Sarsour helped to organize Black Lives Matter protests. Sarsour helped form "Muslims for Ferguson", and she traveled to Ferguson with other activists in 2014. She has continued to work extensively with BLM ever since. Sarsour became a regular attendee at Black Lives Matter demonstrations as well as a frequent television commentator on feminism.
Political party involvement
Sarsour is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. In 2016, she ran for a position as a County Committee member with the Democratic Party of Kings County, New York. She placed third. She has spoken about her activism in the context of building a progressive movement in the United States, and has been praised by liberal politicians and activists. In 2012, during the presidency of Barack Obama, the White House recognized Sarsour as a Champion of Change. Sarsour was a surrogate for U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders during his 2016 presidential campaign.
During the 2020 Democratic National Convention, Sarsour spoke on a virtual panel of the Muslim Delegates and Allies subcommittee, saying, "The Democratic Party is not perfect, but it is absolutely our party in this moment". After an edited clip of her comments was shared on conservative websites and by pro–Donald Trump social media accounts, a spokesperson for Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign disavowed Sarsour, saying she had no role in the campaign.
Women's March leadership
2017 Women's March
Teresa Shook and Bob Bland, organizers of the 2017 Women's March, recruited Sarsour as co-chair of the event, to be held one day after Donald Trump's inauguration. According to Taylor Gee of Politico, Sarsour had by then become the "face of the resistance" to Trump, adding "For Sarsour, Trump's election came after years of standing up for people he had maligned—not just women, but Muslims, immigrants and black Americans, too. Her ties with activists from around the country helped her galvanize different groups during the disorienting period following the election". Sarsour actively opposed the Trump administration's ban on travelers from several Muslim-majority countries and was named lead plaintiff in a legal challenge brought by the Council on American–Islamic Relations. In Sarsour v. Trump, the plaintiffs argued that the travel ban must be suspended because it existed only to keep Muslims out of the United States.
Melissa Harris-Perry writes that Sarsour was "the most reliable target of public vitriol" of the 2017 Women's March leaders over the following year. Following her leadership role in the Women's March, Sarsour was targeted by violent threats on social media, some from organizations with links to the Russian government, and personal attacks by conservative media outlets, including false reports that she supported the militant Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and advocated imposing Islamic law in the United States. She stated that, while the march was a high point in her career, the media attacks that followed caused her to fear for her safety. Supporters used the Twitter hashtag #IMarchWithLinda, including Sharon Brous of the National Council of Jewish Women, who worked with Sarsour in organizing the 2017 Women's March, and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders. Sarsour, along with her three co-chairs, was named as one of Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People" after the January march.
Sarsour was a co-chairwoman of the 2017 Day Without a Woman strike and protest, organized to mark International Women's Day. During a demonstration outside Trump International Hotel and Tower in Manhattan, she was arrested along with other leaders of the January Women's March, including Bland, Tamika Mallory, and Carmen Perez. She has organized and participated in other acts of civil disobedience in protest of the Trump administration's actions, such as ending the DACA program shielding young immigrants from deportation, the Trump administration family separation policy for immigrants, and the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
In a 2017 speech before the Islamic Society of North America, Sarsour said that people should "stand up" to Trump, as she deemed his administration oppressive, and that such actions would constitute a jihad. Some on social media criticized Sarsour for using the term jihad since the general public associates it with violence, while others defended her choice of words.
2019 Women's March
In September 2018, Sarsour announced that she would lead the 2019 Women's March on Washington along with Tamika Mallory, Bob Bland, and Carmen Perez. Sarsour stepped down from the Women's March organization in September 2019 along with Bob Bland and Tamika Mallory.
Stance on Israeli–Palestinian conflict
Haaretz has called Sarsour one of the most widely known Palestinian American women for her advocacy on behalf of Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories, noting that some on the center and right consider her a polarizing figure due to her anti-Zionist activism. She has said she supports a one-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict but believes in Israel's right to exist and does not support either Hamas or the Palestinian Authority. She has dismissed smears circulated on social media and conservative websites that she has ties to Hamas, calling them "fake news". Sarsour has said members of her extended family in the Israeli-occupied territories have been arrested and jailed on accusations of supporting Hamas, but denied having contact with any radical Muslim groups. She has said she would like Israelis and Palestinians to coexist peacefully and justly. According to the Brooklyn Eagle, Sarsour's support for the presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders, who is Jewish, her view that Israel has a right to exist, and her relationship with Bill de Blasio have garnered her criticism from some Islamists.
Sarsour told Haaretz that she is and always will be a critic of Israel and fully supports BDS. Sunaina Maira has described Sarsour's advocacy for BDS as an element of her feminist politics. In a March 2017 interview with The Nation, Sarsour opined that those who support and do not criticize the state of Israel cannot be part of the feminist movement; she believes such people ignore the rights of Palestinian women. Sarsour has criticized progressive Zionists. At a conference of American Muslims for Palestine, she asked, "how can you be against white supremacy in America" while supporting Israel, saying that Israel is "built on the idea that Jews are supreme to everyone else". She later clarified that she was referring to Israel's Jewish nation-state law.
Relations with Jewish-American advocacy groups
Sarsour has been criticized by American conservatives and pro-Israel Democrats, along with some Zionist activists for her stance on Middle Eastern politics, including her support for BDS against Israel. The Guardian wrote that Sarsour "has been a frequent target of pro-Israel pressure organisations". According to an investigation by Haaretz, a private Israeli intelligence firm spied on Sarsour and her family in an attempt to collect damaging information. A dossier was shared with the Act.IL group, which used the material to dissuade U.S. universities from allowing Sarsour to speak on campus.
Sarsour has worked with left-wing Jewish groups including Jewish Voice for Peace and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice. According to Haaretz, mainstream Jewish organizations "long held her at arms' length" due to her criticism of Israel and her support for the BDS movement. According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, progressive Jews are willing to ignore her anti-Zionism whereas right-wing Jews and some centrist Jews are not. Two directors of the U.S.-based Jewish NGO the Anti-Defamation League, along with the president of the Zionist Organization of America, have criticized her stance on Israel.
Fundraising efforts
After a Jewish cemetery in St. Louis 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 for repair and restoration work. Among other recipients of funds from the effort was a Colorado Jewish cemetery listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The project generated some controversy after New York assemblyman Dov Hikind accused Sarsour of withholding the funds.
Sarsour's request for donations to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts was criticized by her conservative opponents; according to Alexander Nazaryan of Newsweek, this was indicative of the right wing's increasing antipathy for Sarsour. MPower Change, a group Sarsour co-founded, has also worked to raise money for the victims of the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, which some progressive supporters of Sarsour have pointed to along with the St. Louis cemetery fundraising campaign in defending her against accusations of anti-Semitism.
Personal life
As of 2011[update], Sarsour lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. At 17, she entered into an arranged marriage and had three children by her mid-20s. Both Sarsour's family and her husband are from the Palestinian city of Al-Bireh in the West Bank, and about 9 miles (14 km) north of Jerusalem.
Sarsour is a Muslim. On the subject of women in Islam, she told The Washington Post, "There are Muslims and regimes that oppress women, but I believe that my religion is an empowering religion." She chooses to wear a hijab. Sarsour has said that, before she wore a hijab, she was "just some ordinary white girl from New York City", and that wearing a hijab made others "know that I was Muslim". She argues that sharia does not impose on non-Muslims and that Muslims must also follow civil laws.
