A report on organized anti-Semitism and on the activities of racists and bigots in the United States was published today by the American Jewish Committee. The report offers a four-point plan for community action in dealing with the hatemongers.
The report deals with racist agitation in the South, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s desegregation decision of 1954; hatemongers on the political scene; Arab and neo-Nazi propaganda in the U.S.A.; synagogue desecrations; and a “case history” of the activities of George Lincoln Rockwell, self-styled commander of the American Nazi Party. The Committee urges the following program to combat bigots:
1. For the bigot who thrives on publicity the “deadliest weapon” is quarantine–relegating him to obscurity. No response should be made even to his most frantic provocations for they will only succeed in adding to the public attention he craves.
2. Covert bigots–who quietly give financial aid to hatemongers–should be publicly exposed.
3. Where bigoted action violated Federal, state or local laws, the facts should be presented to the appropriate authorities.
4. When a bigot hides behind false facades of patriotism and religion, repudiation by the very institutions he claims to protect are usually extremely effective. Condemnation by communal, civic or religious leaders have been found to be valuable antidotes.
Exploitation of Southern tensions in racist and religious terms originates from points as distant as Los Angeles, Denver, St. Louis, New York and Union, New Jersey, according to the AJC survey. Primary sources shipping their literature in bulk to “wholesalers” in the South are Conde McGinley, whose Christian Education Association was condemned for “subversion from the extreme right” by the House Un-American Committee, and Gerald L. K. Smith whose “White Men Awaken!” has been extensively circulated in the South.
“In the last decade various attempts have been made by hatemongers to infiltrate ultra-conservative movements,” the report states. “Recently such organizations as the John Birch Society, which disclaims religious bigotry, have become objects of their support. Still functioning is the National States Rights Party, an organized racist, hatemongering movement cast in a political format. To date, most of its efforts have been concentrated in the South.”
Reviewing the Arab anti-Jewish propaganda in this country, the report says that official Arab propaganda confines itself largely to insinuations of “dual loyalty” on the part of American Jews. The terms “Zionist” and “Jew” are used interchangeably in derogatory context. The Organization of Arab Students briefs some four thousand young Arabs at colleges and universities here for speaking appearances, student seminars and other persuasive contacts with Americans. The Arab Information Office, propaganda arm of the Arab League in the United States, also makes pro-Arab speakers widely available and distributes a wide variety of literature, the report says.
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