The Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith today lauded a decision by the New York Elks Lodge No. 1 to take steps toward wiping out the Elks’ Grand Lodge policy of restricting membership to “Caucasians only,” and expressed the hope that the non-discriminatory policy would be extended to include “members of other minority groups too.”
According to Arnold Forster, ADL general counsel, a study made in 1956 showed that almost 15 percent of 64 Elks lodges surveyed” did not admit Jews or made it difficult for them to become members.” Of those 64 lodges, Mr. Forster said, “27 did not admit Jews at all,” while 37 others made membership for Jews “difficult”
The New York Elks decision was announced by New York Assemblyman Bentley Kassal who had written to Judge Frank J. Blangiardo, past Exalted Ruler of the Elks, deploring the Elks national “Caucasians only” policy. Assemblyman Kassal, who has introduced a legislative resolution to study discrimination by private clubs, was told by the New York Lodge that it would ask the Elks judiciary committee to strike the “Caucasian clause” from the statutes of the Grand Lodge when it convenes in Chicago on July 8th.
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