UAHC Rabbinical Conference Ask U.S. to Implement Principle of Human Rights Declaration

The Joint Commission on Social Action of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the Central Conference of American Rabbis yesterday called on the United States Government to “implement to the fullest extent” the doctrine of the brotherhood of man and the principle of human equality embodied in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. The statement was issued in connection with the observance of Race Relations Day, during which many Jewish congregations invited Negro preachers to their pulpits to speak on the significance of the day.

The message of the Joint Commission on Social Action urges the federal government to eliminate all forms of segregation in our armed forces and to give no aid or subsidy to any state using such funds in a program of discrimination or segregation. The government should forbid race discrimination or segregation in the production of goods and services which go into interstate commerce and should use its constitutional powers to prohibit the poll tax and to make lynching a federal offense,” the massage added.

The Joint Commission also reminded Americans that the enemy in the Second “world War “was our enemy because he insisted on the racial superiority of a specific group of human beings and denounced other human beings as racial inferiors subject to enslavement and extermination.” It also appealed directly to the individual states to enact laws “providing for fair employment practices, fair educational practices, fair housing practices, as well as equality in public transportation and all other areas of public accommodations.”