SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) – This weekend, thousands of San Diegans are expected to make their way through the streets of downtown San Diego in the name of women’s rights.
The third annual Women’s March will kick off Saturday morning in downtown. There will also be several marches held across the United States – all amid some controversy.
The theme of the year’s Women’s March is “Bringing Truth to Power.” Local organizers said they are planning to celebrate their victories at the polls during last year’s midterm elections.
At the national lever, however, there is more strife than celebration and some are wondering if that controversy will impact the march here at home.
In 2017, a day after the president’s inauguration, more than 30,000 people participated in the first Women’s March. Thousands also turned out for last year’s march.
The organization’s co-president Tamika Mallory made headlines through her association with Louis Farakhan – leader of The Nation of Islam. The Nation of Islam has been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center based on “racists, anti-Semitic and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric of its leaders."
Mallory called Farakhan “the greatest of all time. Because of what he’s done in the black community.”
Mallory defended herself by saying, “just because I go into a space with someone does not mean that I agree with everything they say.”
While some Women’s March chapters have cancelled their events this year in response to the controversy, San Diego’s organizers said they are hopeful the national controversy will not ultimately impact the march.
The San Diego Women’s March is set to kick off Saturday morning at 10 a.m. at Waterfront Park on Harbor Drive.