The use of modern techniques of social science to reduce tensions between Jewish and non-Jewish residents of Coney Island, where a member of “incidents” have taken place, was revealed here yesterday by Henry Epstein, chairman of the Commission on Community Interrelations of the American Jewish Congress, which is carrying out the program. Mr. Epstein was formerly Solicitor-General of New York.
The project in Coney Island got under way late in 1944 following a Yom Lippur “synagogue incident” when hoolums broke up holiday services in the Young Israel Synagogue. A “task force” of the Commission, Mr. Epstein said, was assigned to the job of fact-finding. These men and women included psychologists, public opinion measurement experts, community organizers and other specialists.
They conducted public opinion polls to learn the “gripes” and wants of the dominant racial and religious groups; trained local residents to help with fact-finding; surveyed recreational, housing, business, and school facilities; helped the members of Youth Town stage inter-racial activities; organized panels of community leaders to work for common interests; and assisted in developing a program of civic betterment in housing, health, teen-age recreation, and other fields.
Some of the non-Jewish boys involved in the Yom Kippur incident are now cooperating with the Commission’s staff in analyzing reasons for conflict and seeking solution, Mr. Epstein reported.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
