Women's March founder Teresa Shook calls on its leaders to step down due to 'antisemitism'

Ms Shook accused the four leaders of having “steered the Movement away from its true course. I have waited, hoping they would right the ship. But they have not.

“In opposition to our Unity Principles, they have allowed anti-Semitism, anti- LBGTQIA 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.

"I call for the current Co-Chairs to step down and to let others lead who can restore faith in the Movement and its original intent.”

In response, the four Women's March leaders accused Ms Shook of having "weighed in irresponsibly, as have other organizations attempting in this moment to take advantage of our growing pains to try and fracture our network."

However, Mercy Morganfield, former head of the Washington DC chapter of the group, published a Facebook message saying she agreed with Ms Shook.

“I’d repeatedly denounced Tamika Mallory’s antisemitic rhetoric in public and private,” she said.

“I was shushed by Bob Bland as she protected Tamika. I was shushed by others who didn’t want their criticism to reflect badly on women.”

Ms Morganfield said: “Tamika and Linda have betrayed all women by their subservience to radical religious beliefs that do not believe in equal rights for women.

"Tamika wrote about ‘enemies of Jesus’ just as any right-wing antisemitic establishment would write.”

Speaking “as an African American”, she added: “This is what happens when four tokens are chosen.

"They were handpicked to make the movement look less white. That is not intersectionality. That is tokenism. And tokenism attracts predators.”