California Women's March Cancelled Over Fears Participants Would Be 'Overwhelmingly White'

[Eugene]

Source: Newsweek

CALIFORNIA WOMEN’S MARCH CANCELLED OVER FEARS PARTICIPANTS WOULD BE 'OVERWHELMINGLY WHITE’

BY EWAN PALMER ON 12/30/18 AT 8:21 AM

A planned Women’s March in California has been by canceled the organizers over fears about the lack of diversity from those taking part.

The march in the town of Eureka, in Humboldt County, was due to take place on January 19. In the run-up to the event, the organizers described being “at a crossroads” as they sought to create an event that “represents all members of our community.”

In a statement posted on Facebook, the organizers have confirmed that the event will now no longer be going ahead, following “conversations between local social-change organizers and supporters of the march."

"The local organizers are continuing to meet and discuss how to broaden representation in the organizing committee to create an event that represents and supports peoples who live here in Humboldt,” the statement added.

“Up to this point, the participants have been overwhelmingly white, lacking representation from several perspectives in our community.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/california-womens-march-cancelled-over-fears-participants-would-be-1274756

[Joe941]

1. Seems ridiculous.

[Sherman A1]

2. Pardon me for a moment.

[janterry]

3. third wave feminism smacks down second wave feminists

I am sorry to see this. It's not what I fought for.

[eissa]

4. Beyond ridiculous

Eureka and Humboldt County happen to be predominantly White. Not sure why the organizers consider this a bad thing.

[Autumn]

5. Cancelled because it's too many White participants in an overwhelmingly White town.

[HeartachesNhangovers]

6. If you think the cancellation was wrong,

then you are rejecting the existence of de facto discrimination.

De facto discrimination, as opposed to de jure discrimination (pardon my Latin, but I didn't make up these terms), is suspected when discriminatory results occur in the absence of explicitly discriminatory policy or law. For example, gender pay discrimination is suspected when women – on average – are paid less than men for doing the same work. No company or government entity in the US has an explicit policy that says: “We pay women less”, but many companies and government entities have cultures that result in women being paid less: de facto discrimination.

In the case of this march, the organizers must have admitted to themselves that if the POCs aren't turning up (they are a minority in this part of CA but they do exist), then the organizers must be doing something to discourage their participation: de facto discrimination. And if that's what they think, who are we to argue?