N.c.r.a.c. Adopts Plan for Safeguarding Rights of Religious Groups in the L.s.a.

The National Community Relations Advisory Council, coordinating body of six national Jewish organizations and 48 local Jewish community relations councils, today made public a coordinating program adopted by its constituent groups with regard to advancing equal rights and safeguarding the rights of religious groups in the United States,

The program scores Congress for “inaction on civil rights.” It terms the Civil Rights Act of 1957 as “inadequate,” and says that “the experience of the Civil Rights Commission and the Justice Department demonstrated that additional federal legislation is imperatively needed, if the aims of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 are to be realized.”

The NCRAC plan charges “legislative apathy” toward federal civil rights legislation, noting that this apathy “was but a reflection of the general public apathy.” It warns that segregationist intransigence meanwhile remains unabated, adding that “there is grave danger that this intransigence may so dismay and alarm other parts of the nation as to intimidate them into a withdrawal from the struggle.”

Outlining recommended actions for “facilitating integration in the public schools” the plan calls for “participation by individuals in representative citizens groups to preserve the public schools and to encourage acceptance of compliance with law” and common planning among organizations and groups concerned about orderly compliance with the Supreme Court’s rulings.”

Racial segregation in public schools is not limited to the South, the plan comments. In many cities in other parts of the country, it says, “pupils attending many public schools are drawn overwhelmingly from single racial, ethnic or religious groups.”

The plan commends New York, Chicago and other cities for “experimenting with various procedures designed to make the pupil composition of schools approximate more closely the composition of the community as a whole and to integrate school facilities.” It urges support of such measures as “creative redistricting and integration of teaching staffs.”

Noting that there is a shortage of teachers and administrators “adequately trained in the means and methods for fostering equality in the public school setting,” the plan calls upon the cooperating Jewish organizations to work for more and better instruction in intergroup education principles and techniques in teachers colleges and in-service training programs for teachers and other school personnel.

The six national organizations affiliated with the NCRAC are the American Jewish Congress, Jewish Labor Committee, Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A., Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Union of Orthodox Congregations of America, and United Synagogue of America. The NCRAC program was made public by Judge David Ullman, chairman, who stressed that “the 54 constituent organizations of the NCRAC differ markedly in resources, and the local bodies have many different local programs and responsibilities. Each is expected to adapt the overall joint plan to its particular situation.”