The National Community Relations Advisory Council concluded its annual plenary session here today by appealing to American Jews “to reaffirm our wholehearted participation in the current struggle for human rights” and to give full support to the fight the American negro is making for equality of rights and an end to all forms of discrimination or segregation.
In the most dramatic of a series of resolutions adopted by representatives of 69 community relations councils and six national organizations, the NCRAC declared that “our Jewish heritage and our common humanity” impel Jews to a renewed commitment to do everything possible to secure “immediate justice and full citizenship rights for all Americans everywhere. “
The resolution admonished American Jews to “eliminate any vestiges of discrimination in our own institutions and to strive to make them exemplars of equal opportunity.” It called for “direct involvement” by all components of the NCRAC “in the struggle to make America completely free.”
In a parallel resolution, the plenary session called on the United States Congress to enact the civil rights program proposed by President Kennedy “without delay and without weakening amendments.” It urged state and local legislative bodies to enact comprehensive measures banning discrimination in employment, education, housing and places of public accommodation, and to establish administrative agencies with sufficient powers to enforce these prohibitions.
In its call to the American Jewish community to support the Negro battle for rights, the NCRAC affirmed that “as Jews, we react with special sensitivity to the Negro’s demands. We too have stood before the oppressors demanding freedom. We too know the inexorable power of a righteous ideal. We too have buried our martyrs. Bitter experience has taught us what tragedy there is in a community of well-intentioned men who, through indifference and apathy, become accessories to the destruction of a people’s rights.”
WELCOMES SUPREME COURT BAN ON PRAYERS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Another resolution warned that three “radical proposals” to amend the United States Constitutions brought under assault the federal system and the position of the Supreme Court “as the foremost guardian of individual liberties. ” It charged there was a “well planned campaign” to put the amendments over “with deliberate silence and almost no public awareness.” The NCRAC welcomed the Supreme Court decision on prayer in the schools as “a victory for religion and for religious freedom. “
Another resolution called for maximum aid to public schools. It warned that Government aid to religiously-controlled schools “would do a grave disservice to both religion and public education. ” The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, a constituent of the NCRAC, abstained from voting on this resolution.
In other resolutions, on national questions, the NCRAC called for speedy ratification of the United Nations genocide convention, removal of the “racist national origins quota system of our immigration code, ” and renewed its opposition to compulsory Sunday closing laws.
On the international front, the conference greeted Pope Paul VI on his election. It reported an intensification of anti-Semitic policies on the part of the Soviet Union, charging that “Soviet courts and so-called legal process have become instruments of anti-Semitism.”
In a resolution on the Middle East, the NCRAC called on the United States to give “firm security guarantees” to the countries in the area and to maintain vigilance to preserve the arms balance. It urged the Administration and Congress to ensure that American economic aid was not diverted and misused by the Arab governments to acquire offensive weapons and to undertake aggressive ad ventures. It urged a firm policy to end Arab “boycotts, blockades and belligerence” and appealed to the Government to use its influence and power to bring all parties to the peace table.
In a resolution on developments within the Jewish community, the NCRAC expressed hope for the “successful outcome of discussions now being pursued between our own committee and that of the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation League with a view toward an agreement that will lead to resumption of cooperative relationships between the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation League and ourselves,”
Lewis H. Weinstein was reelected chairman of the NCRAC for the coming year.
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