The New York City Commission on Human Rights disclosed yesterday that it had started an investigation of the attack by 50 Negro teen-agers last week on pupils and teachers of a yeshiva in the slum-ridden Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn.
The disclosure followed a demand by the Jewish Community Council of Brooklyn, sent to Mayor Wagner and Police Commissioner Michael Murphy, asking for immediate action to prevent future attacks by “Negro ruffians” on pupils at the United Lubavitcher Yeshivoth.
The Brooklyn Council, which represents more than 800 Brooklyn Jewish organizations, told the Mayor and the Police Commissioner that “the wanton attack has disturbed and outraged the entire Brooklyn Jewish community. ” More than a dozen of the pupils, as well as two teachers, were roughed up and bruised in the unprovoked attack. Only one of the attackers was arrested.
Former Justice Emil N. Barr, acting JCC president, said the organization also had sent communications to leaders of the Congress of Racial Equality, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Urban League, Judge Barr expressed “dismay that no public statement has been forthcoming from the heads of these groups.” He said officials of the three groups had been informed of the JCC’s “outrage and shock at the ruthless attack of Negro boys upon the Jewish students. “
The Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith declared in a statement today that “the unprovoked and deplorable attack by a group of young Negroes on the children and teachers at the United Lubavitcher Yeshivoth is a sad occurrence. We can only hope that it is an isolated incident and does not reflect any planned pattern on the part of irresponsible groups.
“In the harsh times in which we live, “the ADL statement continued, “it is inevitable that there will be incidents that will provoke and disturb us all–Negro and white, Jew and Christian. But to retain our perspective, we must ensure that the responsible leadership in each community makes every effort to check irresponsible elements and forces, and to harness its energies into channels that will serve each cause in better fashion than does violence and calumny. “
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.
