Two National Jewish Organizations Assess Black-jewish Relations

Two national Jewish organizations have addressed the issue of Black-Jewish relations as they stand now and how they may develop in the future. The American Jewish Committee’s National Executive Council, meeting in Chicago, issued a statement over the weekend which said they “are at a critical stage” and cited “expressions of anti-Semitism and bigotry in this year’s Democratic Presidential primary campaign” in which the Rev. Jesse Jackson was a candidate.

But Nathan Perlmutter, national director of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, told the ADL’s National Executive Committee meeting in Denver that Black-Jewish relations have not “unraveled” despite the controversies that surrounded the Jackson campaign.

Some members of the Black and Jewish communites are seeking issues “to which they can speak jointly, but progress will come haltingly,” Perlmutter said.

The AJCommittee statement said that while “small but vocal groups in both communities see no usefulness in continued contact”, dialogue continues “in other places where attempts were made to deal with this issue forthrightly.”

According to the AJCommittee, Black-Jewish relations in the past decade “have tended to reactive attempts to allay tensions resulting from differences in approach to problems of mutual concern.” But “the present moment offers an opportunity to break out of the cycle of reaction by launching an initiative of positive action that speaks to the interests and ideals of both the Black and Jewish communities and to the stability and health of American society.”

Perlmutter maintained that Blacks seeking to promote their economic and social interests seem to view the “mainstream” of American politics as the best means to achieve their goals and have repudiated Jackson in several significant primary contests.

He said in a New York district that is 74 percent Black, a Black protege of one of Jackson’s top aides was decisively defeated by a Jewish opponent and in another district, with 63 percent of the population Black, a Jewish candidate defeated a Black opponent, polling 65 percent of the vote.

Perlmutter also cited the Jackson-supported referendum in Berkeley, California, aimed at cutting American aid to Israel, which was overwhelmingly defeated in Black districts as it was in the city at large. “In Berkeley, we learned that on foreign affairs, polls of Black attitudes toward Israel have far more resonance than Jesse Jackson’s more widely reported contrary views,” Perlmutter said.

He added, however, that despite this divergence from Jackson’s foreign policy views and reservations among “some Blacks” about the condidate himself, Jackson still has “impressively solid support” in the Black community. He attributed this to “racial pride” and susceptibility to “demagoguery.”

POTENTIAL FOR NEW BLACK-JEWISH INITIATIVES

The AJCommittee statement pointed out that “polls have shown consistently significant agreement between Blacks and Jews on issues important to both groups: civil rights and human rights; fair and full employment; quality public education; equal opportunity; family policy and women’s issues.”

According to the AJCommittee, “These realities offer the potential for new and vigorous Black-Jewish initiatives on matters of common concern.”

The AJCommittee said that in the year ahead it will commit itself to a series of programs with key black groups, such as joint action on public policy issues; deepening mutual understanding; improving public perceptions, particularly those engendered by the media; narrowing differences; internal information programs on Black-Jewish relations; and expanding dialogues.