A spokesman for six national Jewish civic and religious organizations called today for broad civil rights legislation that would reverse “past policies of caution that have proved too little and too late to meet rising demands for racial equality.”
Will Maslow of New York, executive director of the American Jewish Congress, told a House Judiciary subcommittee that “the country is ready to abandon the policy of ‘deliberate speed’ in achieving integration–a policy that has often meant no movement at all toward ending racial segregation.” He testified for the American Jewish Congress, Jewish Labor Committee, Jewish War Veterans, Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations and United Synagogue of America.
The Jewish organizations’ spokesman proposed an eight-point “basic legislative program” which he urged the subcommittee recommend to the full House Committee. He called for enactment of measures that would give the Department of Justice power to institute court actions to enjoin any denial of equal protection of the laws as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. He also asked to make the Civil Rights Commission a permanent body and give it authority to investigate not only denial of voting rights but every aspect of racial or religious discrimination.
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.
