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Milwaukee Jewish Council Calls on City for Open Housing Ordinance

September 27, 1967
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The Milwaukee Jewish Council announced today its “strong support” for enactment of an ordinance by the Milwaukee Common Council guaranteeing the right of all to buy, rent or lease property in the city without racial discrimination. It urged the City Council to show “the moral leadership so desperately needed at this grave moment in our city’s history” and called on the State legislature to enact enabling legislation if such were required.

In a statement today, the Milwaukee Jewish Council said that public officials “have a responsibility to enact open housing legislation in fulfillment of the rights of the Negro citizen and other minority group of this greater Milwaukee community.” Their failure to act, the statement charged, “has served only as encouragement to the breakdown of law and order.”

The statement viewed “with deep concern the events of recent days in Milwaukee which have witnessed intolerable bigotry and violence; the brandishing of swastikas and other racist symbols on our public streets; the appearance of self-styled Nazis and their ilk in our community who are attempting to exploit the emotionally charged atmosphere for their evil purposes.”

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