The Orange County Human Relations Commission hosts civil rights activist and Women’s March organizer Linda Sarsour this Sunday for a talk on intersectionality in the fight for women’s rights.

Sarsour was one of the lead national co-chairs behind the Women’s March, which brought an estimated 200,000 people to Washington DC in 2017 in response to the election of Donald Trump as president.

Deborah Stroman, chair of the Human Relations Commission, said Sarsour was asked to speak in honor of Women’s History Month because she has an extensive history of advocacy for the underserved and has experience organizing political movements that reach different cultural identities.

“Mrs. Sarsour has been invited to talk about how we work together,” Stroman said. “How do we bridge that gap as women?”

Capacity is already full for the event this Sunday in the Whitted Building, but officials said there is a plan to film the talk and make the video available afterwards on the Human Relations website.

The announcement of Sarsour’s visit left some residents unhappy.

Orange County resident and political commentator Ashley Campbell said she disapproved of taxpayer money being used to bring Sarsour to Hillsborough. Campbell said the Human Relations commission should have brought someone local to speak on Women’s Right’s, and should have considered inviting someone with a conservative viewpoint, as well.

“I mean, I would have rather had them bring in anybody – no matter how radical they might be – at least somebody local.”

Sarsour is being paid $5,000 plus travel expenses for the speech, according to Orange County.

Sarsour has drawn criticism because of her advocacy work related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, and is the eldest child of Palestinian immigrants. She has advocated for the boycott and divestment of Israeli in response to the treatment of Palestinians.

But Commission chair Stroman said the event is not related to the conflict in the Middle East, and will focus on Sarsour’s work on Women’s Rights across barriers of race and class.

“I’m hopeful that people remember the words of Audre Lorde, who said, ‘There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.’”

(Featured Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

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