New York City’s newly appointed Human Rights Commissioner yesterday urged a revival of the coalition between Jews and Negroes which has been split by racial tensions. Simeon Golar, a Negro, spoke before a predominantly Jewish audience at the Daughters of Jacob Hospital and Home for the Aged. He said he wanted to be an “honest broker on behalf of all the people of this city.” He said he was “personally saddened to see your people vilified even as I see my people are oppressed.”
Mr. Golar was appointed chairman of the City’s Human Rights Commission by Mayor John V. Lindsay, succeeding William H. Booth, also Negro, who became a center of controversy when Jewish groups accused him of insensitivity to increasing Negro anti-Semitism. Mr. Booth has been appointed a judge of of the Criminal Court.
The occasion for Mr. Golar’s appearance before the Jewish audience was a celebration of Sephardic and Spanish culture marking the Spanish Government’s official abolition of the decree of 1492 that ordered the expulsion of Jews from Spain. The Daughters of Jacob Hospital and Home for the Aged is an affiliate of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York.
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.
