THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, February 20, 1970-11
War on Crime
New Dilemma
By ROBERT E. SEGAL
(A Seven Arts Feature)
Why was there a 100 per cent
increase in America's crime rate
in the decade 1958-1968, as the
report of the National Commission
on the Causes and Prevention of
Violence points out? Why are
there six homicides annually per
100,000 penile in the U.S. and
only 0.7 in England and Wales
and only 1.3 in neighboring Can-
ada? Why are we heading fast
for that day when—so the report
has it—"the central cities will be
unsafe in varying degree, the well-
to-do will live in privately-guarded
compounds, residents will travel in
armored vehicles through sanitized
corridors, connecting safe areas,
and radical groups will possess
tremendous armories of weapons
that can be brought into play with
or without provocation?"
The answers abound in the sev-
eral reports of the National Com-
mission on the Causes and Preven-
tion of Violence, appointed June
10, 1968, when the nation was
stunned by the assassination of
Senator Robert F. Kennedy, a
senseless crime following not long
after the brutal murder of Dr.
Martin Luther King.
Horse thievery, cattle rustling,
skirmishes with Indians, riots
against hunger, bitter labor bat-
tles, contempt for immigrants,
racial conflicts are all interwoven
in the patchwork of crime in
America. Three times, the Ku
Klux Klan has risen, sending fear
into the hearts of minorities peo-
ple and frequently winning ad-
herents among the highly placed.
Vigilantism, going back to the
days of the open frontiers, has
been common in our country. (How
many know that in 1813-14, Su-
preme Court Chief Justice John
Marshall headed a Richmond, Va.,
committee of vigilance with the
purpose of defending against a
possible British attack during the
War of 1812?)
The industrious national com-
mission headed by Dr. Milton
Eisenhower, in its final report, has
boldly called upon the legislative
and executive branches of our gov-
ernment to siphon $20,000,000,000 a
year from new taxes, from our
bloated military budget, and from
the assured increment in the gross
national product—for the required
massive attack upon crime and the
causes of violence and unrest. In
making this reasonable demand,
the commission (most of whose
members are known conserva-
tives) pointedly has declared that
we must come at last to the con-
clusion that the greatest threat to
our nation is not from without but
from within.
The battle against crime and for
racial peace has to be raised above
the level of political squabbling. In
the 1968 presidential campaign,
Richard Nixon claimed that crime
had increased 88 per cent under
the Democratic administration. At-
torney General Ramsey Clark
raised a counter-claim—that dur-
ing the Eisenhower administration.
crime had increased 98 per cent.
Politician A. or Politician B. may
win that kind of debate; but the
sure loser is the public.
Our first responsibility is to
move the legislation for combatting
crime now apparently stuck in
Congressional molasses. These ef-
forts must get back to the back-
breaking, unending challenge to
get, to the roots of crime—poverty.
the use of drugs, racketeering,
contempt for the law, and the
bitter racial misunderstanding
boiling up in our cities.
•
Work—Not Boring
One must work, if not from in-
clination, at least out of despair—
since it proves, on close examina-
tion, that work is less boring than
amusing oneself.
Not every place in Israel
is mentioned in the Bible.
You probably think about going to Israel
for sentimental reasons.
And whypot?
It is the Olace where all those wonderful
Bible stories actually took place.
And it is the treasured homeland of a
people who were homeless for nearly 2,000
years.
So in our country sentiment plays a big
role. But not the only one.
Well, if you're planning a vacation in
What about the Israel that never gets
the Islands, or anywhere for that matter,
mentioned in the Bible?
The Israel of luxury Mediterranean think about it.
And while you're at it, think about our
resort-hotels, fashionable health spas, and
new low winter and summer rates.
golf courses?
Spend a week soaking up our sentiment
Or the Israel of fancy supper clubs and
loud discotheques that go until all hours and spend a week soaking up our sun.
And
then spend the next fifty talking
of the morning?
You didn't know about that Israel, did about it.
Heaven knows,wecould use thepublicity.
you?
AL
The Airline of Israel EL
For more information contact your travel agent or EL AL Israel Air Ines,
24100 SOUTHFIELD ROAD, SOUTIIFIELD, MICHIGAN, 352-5737