Women's March co-organizer Linda Sarsour has the perfect response to her critics

Impact

Linda Sarsour, one of the co-organizers of the Women's March, had the perfect and fiercest response to conservative trolls and right-wing media who have been smearing her with outrageous anti-Muslim comments.

Sarsour appeared with legendary feminist activist Gloria Steinem on MSNBC's All In with Chris Hayes on Monday to discuss the success of the march and plans to keep the momentum into the next four years of Donald Trump's presidency. But then Hayes took a moment to offer Sarsour the opportunity to address threats and harassment from critics.

And yes, Sarsour shut. them. down. Read her response below:

"I just think about history and what gives me solace is that every effective organizer and leader in our history has been vilified, and now the right wing is coordinating attacks against those they see that can mobilize and resonate with the masses. I am proud of the leadership that I have brought to this march and the movements that I have been a part of. I'm not afraid of the right wing and the attacks. They're preposterous. They're baseless. And anyone who does very simple research can know that these people and who these people are: They are all Trump supporters." 

Sarsour is a Palestinian-American mother who was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Serving as the executive director of the Arab American Association of New York, Sarsour has been a champion for immigrants and Muslims. She co-organized a 250-mile march from New York City to Washington, D.C to protest police brutality. She is also a member of Justice League NYC, which is a community activist group dedicated to reforming the criminal justice system and the New York Police Department. In 2012, President Barack Obama awarded her the "Champion of Change" award.

Immediately after the Women's March on Saturday, several media outlets — Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller and Front Page Magazine to name a few — churned out "alternative facts," or lies, about Sarsour.

The Daily Caller accused Sarsour of being related to an "ex-Hamas operative" all based on one photo of a convention for Muslim Americans. The Gateway Pundit published an article featuring a photo of Sarsour posing with "the number one" sign and said she was flashing ISIS's victory sign. It also accused Sarsour of being hell-bent on promoting sharia law, probably one of the most misunderstood religious laws in history, based on a tweet.

While there are photos on the internet of militant fighters and ISIS soldiers posing with a pointed index finger, in no way is it a display of allegiance to the extremist group. For Muslims, the number one sign has been used for centuries — long before the creation of ISIS — to represent tawhid. Tawhid is the belief that God is the sole creator of the universe. When Muslims are about to finish their prayers, they lift one finger to represent the belief in the oneness of God. This is one of the major, if not, main components of Islam.

Also, if a pointed index finger is enough to accuse someone of being an ISIS sympathizer, then what is there to say about Pamela Geller, President Donald Trump, and Tomi Lahren, each of whom have made anti-Islamic statements.

Several other right-wing sites, like FrontPage Magazine, also labeled Sarsour as "anti-semitic" further perpetuating the false and anti-Islam narrative that Muslims inherently hate Jewish people. Sarsour was a supporter and campaigner for Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Jewish-American, during the 2016 presidential primaries.

"I supported the first Jewish man [Bernie Sanders] for president for God's sakes. Like, c'mon people," she said to Hayes on Monday.

Fortunately, numerous people online can see through the blatant xenophobia and absurdity and displayed their support for the activist with the hashtag #IMarchWithLinda.