While the experience of American Jews enabled them to understand the desire of Negroes to own their own businesses, the growing demand for the forced elimination of white merchants from ghetto areas if carried out would leave “a residue of complete and utter chaos,” B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation League official said here.
Jason R. Silverman, Washington-Baltimore director of ADL, told the 23rd annual international convention of B’nai B’rith Young Adults that Jews were sympathetic with the “entirely reasonable desire of Negroes to become part of American society through participation in the mercantile establishment and will continue their historic role of assisting other minorities in positive ways.”
But Mr. Silverman warned that the forced removal solution, voiced with increasing frequency in the wake of ghetto riots, ignores the special skills in merchandising and management, accounting and buying, needed to operate a successful business today. And, he added, it would violate “the elementary principles of freedom of choice inherent in a democracy.” Jewish experience in may fields can be helpful in job training and cooperative business programs in behalf of other minorities, he said.
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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.
