Carter Appeals to Blacks and Jews to Heal the Rift Between Them

President Carter appealed today to Blacks and Jews in America to end the rift that developed between them as a result of the resignation of Andrew Young as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations following his unauthorized meeting with a Palestine Liberation Organization representative.

Speaking at the dedication of a chapel in Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., Young’s home town, the President declared: “Both groups (Blacks and Jews) have a particular call on the conscience of each other and on the conscience of us all…. Many nations are in danger of being torn apart by ethnic divisions, by political rivalries, by religious conflicts. We must seek resolution of differences and we must stand with each other to prevent all these quarrels of the world from being imported into our own national life.”

Recalling that both Blacks and Jews suffered “too much pain, too much persecution,” Carter continued. “Our pluralistic society is an important source of the vitality and creativity of American life. But we must not permit diversity to degenerate into division. In a time of trial, we must not permit the legitimate contest of competing views to become a war of group against group, special interest against special interest, and finally each against all other.”

Carter also said in his speech that different political views “must not become the occasion for deep and damaging divisions between groups of citizens in our society. Black Americans and Jewish Americans have worked side by side for generations in the service of human rights, social justice and general welfare.”

Referring to Young, who was unable to attend the ceremony because of the current Security Council session, Carter praised the outgoing Ambassador for having turned the distrust and fear of the U.S. into an understanding that America supported the rights of oppressed people for justice.