New York’s Black community has been urged by Manhattan Borough President Percy E. Sutton and 22 other Black governmental, business, religious and community leaders to identify with the plight of Jews in the Soviet Union by participating in the “Solidarity Sunday” demonstrations sponsored by the Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry this Sunday, April 13.
In an advertisement published in the New York Amsterdam News, the Black leaders compared the condition of Soviet Jews with the segregation and discrimination suffered by Black Americans. “This fight is our fight. Their plight is our plight,” the advertisement declared. It stated, in part: “As the descendants of once enslaved people, we know all too well the sense of devastation which results from being victimized by segregation and discrimination….Today in Russia, Soviet Jews who dare to ask to emigrate have no rights which Soviet authorities are bound to respect.
“Today, in Russia, Jews who apply to emigrate are treated as ‘traitors.’ In Russia today, all Jews must carry ‘internal passports’ which are stamped ‘Jewish’ as to nationality. These cards are cards of discrimination which set the Soviet Jew apart and subject him to job, education and other discrimination; just as the color of our skins has historically set us apart and subjected us to the same discriminations….We see the parallel and we feel the need to speak out….As Black Americans we care what happens to others. We care and we ask others who care to join us in calling attention to what is happening to the Jews of Russia….
“We ask all to show their solidarity by their presence in the parade of persons at the United Nations or by their prayers in their churches on Solidarity Day to demonstrate to all the world we care.”
The signatories, in addition to Sutton, included Dr. Kenneth Clark, social scientist and president of M.A.R.C.; Rep. Charles B. Rangel, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus; Eleanor Holmes Norton, chairwoman of the New York City Commission on Human Rights; Franklin Williams former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and president of the Phelps-Stokes Foundation; and Benjamin Malcolm, New York City Commissioner of Corrections.
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