The District of Columbia public school system today made known that it has rejected a new World Affairs pamphlet because it seeks to blame Jews for Communism in South Africa.
The pamphlet, published in the “Headline Series” of the Foreign Policy Association, stated that Communist leadership in South Africa “is mostly white and, as in similar groups in Europe, often Jewish.”
William H. Jenkins, supervising director of the history department of the District school system, considered the pamphlet non-objective and questionable. Teachers were told to stop using it because of the controversial reference to Jews. It had been used in a course on world problems.
The Foreign Policy Association describes itself as “a national educational organization serving the American People.” It claims to be non-partisan, non-governmental, and non-profit. Mr. Jenkins commented that the association’s “Headline Series” had previously been considered reasonably good. The African pamphlet, said Mr. Jenkins, was “the first one with a statement as radical as this.”
The school board authorized the classroom use of the “Headline Series” in 1958. Mr. Jenkins has now asked teachers to carefully check other pamphlets in the series before assigning them to students.
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.
