Carl Stokes in Jerusalem Blames U.S. News Media for Heating Up Black-jewish Relations

Mayor Carl Stokes, of Cleveland, blamed the American news media yesterday for creating the impression of a serious conflict between blacks and Jews in the United States. Mr. Stokes, who took office three years ago as the first Negro to be elected mayor of a major American city, spoke on a television interview. He is on a one-week visit to Israel as a guest of the Jerusalem municipality. Mr. Stokes said that an example of how the news media exacerbated a local situation was the New York City teachers’ strike in the fall of 1969. He said that dispute was an economic one. “Most of the teachers were Jews and when the blacks tried to get some teaching posts, the media made this into a full blown conflict. Were it not for the press and television there would have been no ‘black anti-Semitism.’ You get a black nut and a Jewish nut each claiming to speak for his whole community and the media blow it up out of all proportion,” Mayor Stokes said.

He also blamed the media for publicizing the Black Panther movement which he said had only a handful of genuine supporters. The Panthers are a militant Negro group which has adopted an Intense anti-Israel and anti-Zionist stance and declared its solidarity with Arab guerrillas harassing Israel.

Mr. Stokes maintained that there is no conflict between Jews and Negroes in the U.S. He said most Negroes know that the Jews have been their most steadfast partners in the struggle for civil rights. Mr. Stokes won election in 1967 with heavy support from Cleveland’s Jewish community of 80,000.