Purely Commentary

Peekskill: History of an Incident . . . When
Race Hatred Was Directed at Jews and Negroes

By Philip
Slomovitz

pened at the concert grounds is Robeson was returning to Cortlandt
Jewish aspects of the American Tragedy related to the civil rights issue have become so aggravated
best described by statements of to give his concert, and that veter-
that they may well be viewed among the most distressing experiences of our time.
eyewitflesses:
ans were planning to stop it. The
We will not be led into a state of panic, of believing that all Negroes are anti-Semites. On the contrary.
"The first Robeson concert was Star, however, appears by this time
it is our conviction that most responsible Negro leaders reject prejudice that creates racism among both
blacks and whites. All indications are that the fair-minded in all ranks will not condone inner conflicts that supposed to start at 8:30. From to be chastened, for in its editorial
7:30 on, it was impossible for us to it urged the 11 veterans organiza-
are certain to divide the American people into a fratricidal society.
Nevertheless, without rhyme or reason, some blacks have allied themselves with extreme leftists enter the concert grounds. The tions to hold their parade and dem-
onstration in Peekskill. The veter-
who are associated with the Russian ideology of hatred for Israel; and hatred for Israel among that small road had been blocked in both di-
rections. As we waited in line, a ans organizations were not im-
group of haters has led to hatred for all Jews.
pressed; they reaffirmed their de-
man
wearing
a
Legionnaire's
cap
Racism is deplorable and subject to severest condemnation whether it is in the ranks of Negroes or Jews
termination to hold the parade and
or Catholics or Protestants. And when a hate-mongering element undertakes to spread rumors and sus- came over and opened the door of
our car, and said to my husband: demonstration opposite the concert
picions it must be exposed.
grounds.
"Park
your
car
over
here,"
point-
Dr. W. Gunther Plaut, rabbi of the Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto, undertook to reveal the facts
What happened on Sept. 4 is
regarding the New Left in an article in the Toronto Globe and Mail. In "Why a Black Revolutionary Aims ing to the roadside, "We're going to
again best recountered in the words
His Terrible Hatred at Israel," Rabbi Plaut discussed the attitude of Stokely Carmichael, expressed at a get these goddamned Jews . .."
.
We got near the entrance at of eyewitnesses:
University of Montreal program, and in the course of his analysis of a sad development stated:

Three quarters through his program someone
asked about Israel. I had known his attitude for shouted his protestations, the more certain I was
some time, but what he said and how he said it and about it.
But why? When he was active in the Student Non-
how his audience reacted—that was something new
and revealing. The question of Israel differed from Violent Co-ordinating Committee (SNCC), Jewish std.
everything else that happened that evening. dents were his chief helpers and many Jews anxious
to meliorate the oppression and suffering of the
For when it came to Israel Mr. Carmichael lost
Negro had given generously to SNCC. Perhaps this
his cool, the only time he did. He started to shout,
very aid of past years (it has dried up long since) is
attempted to defend his integrity, although it had not
part of the answer: people often hate their benefac-
been questioned. He used expletives and got so
tors with a special kind of intensity.
excited that he knocked his glasses off his own face—
But this can explain only a part of Mr. Carmi-
those dark glasses that had hidden the piercing eyes.
'
But that wasn't all. When he called Israel an
Neither is it enough to ascribe Mr. Carmichael's
unjust state which had no right to existence and had
red-hot sentiment to a basis of religious anti-Semi-
to be wiped out, the black audience rose to their feet
tism that all too often was fostered by old-line
and cheered wildly, the only time they did so during
Christian teachings and is still found among some
the whole program. They hadn't cheered like this for
of the churches which have a special appeal to the
any of the other statements which concerned them
blacks. Maybe there was something of this, but this
personally. They hadn't cheered about his views on
did not explain the whole thing.
Vietnam in the same fashion. They had not jumped
A thoughtful analyst of the contemporary scene
to their feet on anything except their hatred for
adds another dimension. He says that with all the
Israel.
talk of violence and liberation Mr. Carmichael and
Why? Why this intense emotional involvement
his followers still have the deep-rooted desire in-;
with a subject so far away, in which not a single
herent in every man to be part of the majority.
black was actually involved, with a question that
When a Negro takes an anti-Jewish stand (call it
Mr. Carmichael himself had declared political and
whatever you will), he thinks or feels that he has ;
not racial and which to him was not even a question
joined the majority of whites.
of capitalism versus socialism.
For in North America, anti-Semitism is the soft
That the leader of the black revolution in the
underbelly of society. You can still be down on Jews
United States with a thousand problems and so many
(say, Israel) with impunity or even approval. For-
justified complaints and legitimate goals facing his
tunately, not all blacks. (any more than all whites)
movement. should reserve his greatest venom for a
take this armed. •-•
ft
country which is logically of only marginial concern
Whatever the reason, the whole matter left me
to him was puzzling. Equally puzzling was the fact
uneasy and sad, and not just because of Jews and
that his audience would take him up on this theme
Israel. For in my heart of hearts I know that this is
with such gusto.
not how blacks will get their rights.
There is a key to this, but it lies buried in the
In a way Mr. Carmichael himself points up the
subconscious of Mr. Carmichael and his followers.
dilemma. Here is a man who hates his best friends
To pick it up and expose it to view is painful to all,
of past years and who hates the land in which he
and no less so to myself.
lives. Yet when this man goes to Africa to which he
For Mr. Carmichael wasn't after Israel qua
professes allegiance. he is considered by his fellow
Israel. Despite all his protestations he was after
blacks not as an African, but—irony of ironies—as
Jews, and the more violently, almost desperately he
an American.

"By 2 o'clock there were thou-
about 8:20. When we got there we
saw one man being mauled and sands upon thousands of people
punched by two other men wearing inside the concert grounds. The
Legion caps and in the concert police were in force way up Red
ground, we saw groups of people Mill Road. As cars approached the
struggling. Bands of men were area, the police would ask them:
coming down the road to the picnic "Concert or parade?" Those who
area. Legionnaires had barricaded said concert were routed towards
the road leading to the picnic area, the concert grounds. Those who
like the highways, with rocks, said parade were routed in other
planks, overturned cars and trees. directions. It seemed to me that
"At least half the concertgoers the police at this point were doing
who got into the picnic ground were a pretty good job. They were trying
he to separate the concert goers from
women and children
t
spectators. That made me feel
attack started, the children were the
that perhaps there wasn't going to
pressed together on the inside and
the women in a close ring around be trouble after all, at which I was
them. The men formed a circle very much relieved.
"When we got near the concert
with their arms linked, like a buf-
falo circle, to protect the women grounds, a lot of women who were
saw
the
veterans
being
held back by state troopers,
and children. I
throwing sticks and stones and started hooting and jeering at vs,

When

t

.

rocks and anything they could lay shouting:
"Reds," "Jew bastards," "Go
their hands on inside this circle

and I saw them charge repeatedly back to Russia," "Go back to Jew
to try and break the line of men City," and one woman shouted at
defending the women and children. me:
"You can smile now, but you
"The attackers numbered about
450 or 500 inside the grounds and of won't smile tomorrow morning!"
cousre there were hundreds more "Most of these women were
out on the highway.
young women and they had been
"I heard cries like these all about pushed to the front line by the men
who were with them and who seem-
us:
ed to be egging them on.
"After this the Jews are going
At 2 o'clock the concert opened
get out of here and stay out!"
Jews
are
all
Reds
and
they
with the National Anthem. Then
"The
started this, and now they're get- there was an invocation by a Meth-
ting what's coming to them." odist minister from New York.
We left about 10:15 because the After that came a piano recital.
traffic started to move. Just before Two pieces were played, one a
we left, we saw a woman, a man Prokofieff piece and the other
and another woman carrying a either Ravel or Aaron Copeland.
baby — the baby was about six Then a soprano sang. After that
months old—come running up out Paul Robeson sang. He sang a
Why should there be such an attitude? Haven't we traditionally supported the cause of the black man? of the concert ground. The circle, chanson, then "Go Down Moses,"
Haven't we been partners in the struggle for human rights? Aren't we the pioneers in the civil rights I think, had been broken by this then some Negro work songs. It
movement?
time. And the men and many of was than that Howard Fast ap-
Because of the developing situation it is in order to recall a historic incident. This is the 20th anni- the women had been beaten. There pealed for funds and people came
versary of the Peekskill Affair. Peekskill is a small town in New York state's Westchester County. At the were young women as well as men around with collection boxes. Then
time of the incident it had a population of 18,000 which swelled to 50,000 because of the influx of Jewish in the mob. When they saw this Robeson gave his last group of
vacationers. A concert was arranged for the famed Negro singer, Paul Robeson, and then the trouble start-
woman with her baby, they started songs — I forget what they were,
ed. There was violence of a shameful nature and Jews and Negroes were assailed in our free American to yell at her: but he finished, if I remember with
environment as if this country had turned either into a Munich or a Kremlin.
"Look at that goddamned Corn- "01' Man River." The concert end-
The American Civil Liberties Union was asked to make an investigation by five organizations—Ameriican munist hiding behind a baby!"
ed about 3:24 or 3:30 p.m....
Jewish Congress, National Association for the Advancement of the Colored People, Americans for Demo-
The local chapters of the Jewish I "When we got on the highway,
cratic Action and Council Against Intolerance. ACLU issued a lengthy report in January of 1950, and we War Veterans joined their fellow the police routed us, as they were
quote the sequence of events from it:
Legionnaires in the demonstration. routing other cars, up Locus Ave
the
A ve.
ve. h
ere
On Aug. 23, the Peekskill Eve- organization, the Ku Klux Klan, the right to be protected ... These The report does not h s ow .h
w y ey When we got to Locus
th is, but from other sources it' were no more bluecoats but there
ning Star, the city's only daily appeared in Verplanck and re- rights, I might remind you, are
were
a
couple
of
state
troopers.
A
paper, reported that Paul Robeson. ceived their just reward. Needless granted to all our people under the is known that they acted for "pub-
"an avowed disciple of SoViet Rus. to say they have never returned. I Constitution of the United States lic relations" reasons. The report stalled bus stopped in front of us.
As
we
came
up
close
to
the
bus,
I
.."
does
indicate
what
not
infrequently
sia," was about to give a concert am not intimating violence in this
is traded saw a man with a stone in his hand
tion s .
fhappens h reen l a integrity
to raise funds "for the benefit of the case, but I believe that we should
This, according to the report, is
haul his arm back to throw the
"public
Harlem Chapter of the Civil Rights give this matter serious considera-
what happened to Mrs. Mobile: "Witnesses testify that the Jew- stone at our car. A state trooper
Congress," an organization "cited tion and stri
"On the evening of the 26th, Mrs. ish War Veterans were booed, saw him and clipped him in the
as subversive by former United that will cope with the situation
States Attorney General Tom the same way as Verplanck and Mobile's telephone rang. A man's hissed and insulted even while they back of the neck and knocked him
with the same result that they will voice said: "You dirty red bitch. ' were paraticipating in the anti- right across the road. There were
Clark."
. . . Get out of Peekskill . . . !" I Robeson parade and that members lots more men standing about. All
never reappear in this area. ...
The Star devoted a long editorial
Upon her protest that she was of the crowd standing on the edge of them had stones and they threw
If we. of this area, have not for- concerned with preserving the Con- I of the road shouted at these uni- them at our car. I shouted, "Duck"
to the story. The editorial, among
other tihngs, specified when and gotten the war, then let us cooperate stitutional rights of all citizens, the formed Jews, "Dirty Kikes," "Jew and these stones volleyed in. A half
frtohnet car.
where the concert would be held with the American Legion and simi- anonymous caller continued: "To I bastards," etc.
an d th lraonudgehd
came
(on private property in Cortland, lar veteran organizations and ve- hell with the god-damned Constitu-
"Some of these Jewish Veterans w i ndow
hemently
oppose
their
appearances
five miles from Peekskill). The edi-
of Foreign Wars were threatened The two door windows in the back
tion . . . "
torial ended with the following or reappearances. Let us leave no
"During the following two days with attack when returning to were broken with smaller stones.
doubt in their minds that they are
paragraphs.
Peekskill after the parade had dis- Because I had ducked, I didn't get
unwelcome around here either now Mrs. Mobile's telephone rang inter- banded. This ceased when they hurt at all. but two of my guests
"The time for tolerant silence or in the future.
mittently. More often than not
were badly cut with flying glass."
that signifies approval is running
there was silence at the other end were recognized as Peekskill men.
"So far no action has been taken of the wire (this later became a It has been explained to the investi-
The owner of Hollow Brook Coun-
out. Peekskill wants no rallies that
support iron curtains, concentration by organizations or individuals in typical Peekskill "cold war" tech- gators that ". , . It's a Commie try Club where the concert was
camps, blockades and NKVD's, no opposition to this rally, but I trust nique to harass and induce fear in trick to put on a uniform and say, held is a Mr. Szego. On Friday
matter how masterful the decor, that it will be acted upon by the nervous people). On occasion, un- 'I fought for my country.' Those night, Sept. 2, two days before the
proper organization or authorities." identified men's voices would tell New York Jews are all Commies." concert at approximately 3 a.m., a
nor how sweet the music."
No concert was, of course, held, car drove slowly past his home. A
Every issue of the Star on the her: "The boys are out to get you
The same issue of the Star car-
and the Legionnaires considered volley of .22 rifle bullets was fired
.
.
."
or
"The
men
in
the
Legion
next
four
days
contaained
news
re-
a
long
signed
letter
by
the
ried
this a major triumph. Many auto- into the front wall of his house. On
Commander of the American Le- ports, editorials and letters on the are out to get you . . ." or "The mobile drivers in the locality car- Sunday night, Sept. 4, kerosene-
gion chapter of Verplanck, a sub- concert. On Aug. 26, the Star car- boys in the firehouse are out to get ried placards on their windshields filled bottles were lobbed onto the
urb of Peekskill populated largely ried a letter by Mrs. Mary Mobile, you."
reading, "WAKE UP, AMERICA. roof of his house, through one of his
by Irish-Catholics, who some 20 wife of a local businessman and a
By Aug. 27 an atmosphere of vio- PEEKSKILL DID!" Roving bands windows and against the house
years earlier had engaged in a non-Communist, saying:
lence had been built up and had visited the numerous summer re-
(Continued on Page 40)
number : of violent encounters with
". . . if the assembly is peaceful taken the form of open intimidation sort colonies in the area shouting:
a local Ku Klux Klan. The latter and no overt act against our gov- not only of known Communists but "Kill the Jew nigger-lovers!" and
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
pointed out that:
ernment is committed, he and the of all suspected of adherence to similar epithets..
On Sept. 2, the Star reported that 2—Friday, July 18, 1969
"Quite a few years ago a similar people who come to hear him have democratic principles. What hap-

