More and more Ku Klux Klan meetings and, in some cases, White Citizens Councils are turning their efforts to anti-Semitism, the Associated Press reported here yesterday, adding, however, that the “mass of Southerners are not buying the anti-Semitic line.”
In its study of synagogue bombings and the growth of anti-Jewish activities in the South, the press association said there are at least 10 Klans in the region, but that the mass of printed anti-Semitic propaganda comes from such places as Union, N. J., Los Angeles, St. Louis and Chicago. Nearly all White Citizens Councils have repudiated the anti-Jewish campaign and some councils claim Jewish members.
The Florida State’s Attorney in Dade County, Richard E. Gerstein, linked the rise of anti-Semitism to the declining economic situation. “As soon as times get poor some people look for somebody to blame–Jews or Catholics,” he said. The AP reported that Jews comprise less than one-half of one percent of the South’s population. though some Jewish families trace their history in the region back to Colonial times.
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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.
