Laws and court decisions barring discrimination because of religion, race or color are powerful factors in overcoming prejudiced beliefs, as well as discriminatory actions. This view was expressed by a number of speakers at the opening session here today of a three-day conference on the uses of law and legal action in the work of combatting anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry. The conference is under the auspices of the National Community Relations Advisory Council.
Irving Kane, chairman of the Reassessment Committee of the NCRAC, told the 75 social scientists, scholars, lawyers and Jewish leaders participating in the session that, because of the “ancient and poignant story of the long centuries in which we Jews were sometimes persecuted and at best tolerated, but never fully accepted as citizens, Jews have seen the need for organizations dedicated to the advancement of fuller equality for all, since we understand how all especially demarcated groups suffer when barriers are placed against the opportunities and rights of any.”
Will Maslow, director of the Commission on Law and Social Action of the American Jewish Congress, in a presentation on “The Uses of Law in the Struggle for Equality,” said that law not only tends to discourage certain forms of conduct by making it “unrespectable,” but by changing behavior, in time also modifies attitudes, and does so “more effectively than a frontal assault on such attitudes.”
Tracing major legislative and judicial victories in the long fight against discrimination, Mr. Maslow declared that beyond the direct results of laws and court decisions were many indirect gains. “Even if the legislation does nothing but drive discriminatory practices underground, it serves a useful function,” he said. “It is much more difficult for a personnel manager to discriminate against Jews when he has no ready means of determining whether an applicant is a Jew.”
Mr. Maslow hailed the successes in litigations by Jewish community relations agencies on the issue of the separation of church and state, including released time practices, Bible-distribution in the public schools, etc. He stressed that no other corrective action was available in this area, except recourse to the courts. Presiding at today’s session was Bernard H. Trager, NCRAC chairman. He told the parley that the purpose of the conference is to develop recommendations that will stand as guides to the national and local Jewish community relations agencies and to the committees of the NCRAC that continuously plan joint programs and coordinate the work of the agencies.
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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.
