The New York Chapter of the American Jewish Committee called yesterday for "calm and reasoned debate" on the planned low-income housing project in Forest Hills. Queens, which has engendered heated argument following objections by middle-class whites who deny they are racially motivated. Meanwhile, at Grossinger, N.Y., the Anti-Defamation League came out unequivocally in favor of the project as a means of achieving integration.
Edward D. Moldover, president of the AJCommittee chapter, said it had met the night before to seek ways "to restore reason and harmony to a sorely troubled community which has seen brother virtually turn on brother and where, in our judgment, untold harm has been done not only to the community involved but to the city as a whole." Moldover scored "the shouting match now in progress" and declared that "No light is shed on the real issues by attacking as ‘bigots’ those who, motivated by deep concerns, oppose the project."
What should be concentrated on, he said, are the issues of "safety, adequate educational facilities, meaningful tenant selections, neighborhood job development, increased transportational and recreational facilities, appropriate size of structures." He concluded: "Reason and law must ultimately settle the controversy."
OPPOSITION OUT OF PROPORTION
The ADL, in a statement by Lawrence Peirez, chairman of the fact-finding committee, said that "progress and peace in civil rights depend in large measure upon the acceptance of housing experimentation designed to bring Americans of every socio-economic level closer together as friends
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.
