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Split over Anti-semitism Widens in Alabama Segregation Groups

March 8, 1956
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A split between two branches of the pro segregation White Citizens Councils here in which anti-Semitism figures has been widened. Each of the groups announced separate mass meetings to be held here. The latest developments in the internal breach were characterized by charges–and denials–of anti-Semitism.

State Senator Sam Engelhordt, head of the Association of Citizens Councils of Alabama, said, “we can’t light everybody,” and added his group is “not interested in religious bias or prejudice, but is concerned only in maintaining segregation.” He also expressed the fear that injection of this issue might result in a situation where “we won’t have anybody left to help us.”

Meanwhile, Ace Carter, head of the North Alabama White Citizens Councils, which bars Jews from membership, charged that the injection of the anti-Semitic issue was a stratagem used by “anti-Christ, atheistic elements with Communist ideologies who are using the Negroes as a tool.” He said it was “demagogic” to accuse his group of anti-Semiuism. His group’s publication, “The Southerner,” is currently attacking the Hadassah Newsletter” for picturing a white and Negro child together.

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