A leading Black activist has proposed here that his fellow Black leaders call a meeting with Jewish leaders to seek renewal of the battered alliance between American Blacks and Jews. The Rev. Jesse L Jackson, president of Operation People United to Save Humanity, made the appeal at the closing session of the 64th annual convention of the National Urban League.
He cited as a recent major cause of strain between the two groups the issue of job quotas. He said Blacks favor such quotas as a solution to job discrimination and Jews fear quotas on grounds they are being used to limit Jewish opportunities but insist they support wider opportunities for Blacks if based on criteria of Individual merit.
Rev. Jackson told the 1500 persons at the convention banquet last week that “people who marched with us and demonstrated with us are now meeting us in the Supreme Court” as adversaries over what Jewish leaders have described as “reverse discrimination.”
Rev. Jackson listed by name Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., executive director of the Urban League; Roy Wilkins, executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; and the Rev. David Abernathy, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, in asking such Black leaders to “sit down with leaders of the American Jewish Committee and B’nai B’rith and assess our relationship earnestly.” He added that “there is much to be gained by being together and too much to lose by being apart.”
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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.
