_Creed:
This Week in Jewish History `Negroes and Jews' and the 'American
th
sons the latter learned from the
(From the files of the Jewish Teigraphic Agency)
be forced to make a common
cause; in the case of the Jews, Jewish liberation movement. The
reluctantly, in the case of the emergence of an anti-Israel move-
Negroes, with high expectations, ment, influenced by the Arab
nations, emerged as one of the
at least in the beginning."
Then came the Leo Frank case new developments in the changing
in Georgia. Mrs. Berson reviews Negro-Jewish relationships. The
it to indicate the extent of the terr- recent rise in Negro anti-Sem-
or that spread through the white itism provides a major element in
supremacy movement and the Ku Mrs. Berson's study which points
Klux Klan activities. A bit later, to the Jew as the sufferer also _
KKK and rtgheed German A m er- because he is white. But he also
merged the i r ac t i vities was the merchant and the land-
can
and the anti-Semitic trends be- lord and the details of the anti-
p ri Semitic demonstrations, the at-
The a panat
oa r e n t .T
came more
on Jewish merchants in Har-
reap became
Jewish virulence
ent, especially in the "reaction of lem and elsewhere, the anti-Jew-
such old-line New England Yan- ish television and radio programs
kees as Henry Adams." For a that featured Sews, are given corn
time Jews and Negroes fought plete analysis.
Case histories of experiences
together "the legalized discrimin-
ation that penalized them both." in the Negro-Jewish relation-
Mrs. Berson shows that "negro- ships are developed and the
author points to the exodus of
phobia undoubtedly springs from
Jews from areas where they
some of the same emotional needs
previously had the roles of land-
that created anti-Semitism."
Julius Rosenwald's philanthropic lords and merchants. She in-
efforts in behalf of Negroes and dicates that "the ironic result
the interests Jews played in op- might well be the complete
posing racial prejudice is noted withdrawal, not of all Jewish
and Anti-Defamation League activ- capital, but of the Jewish physi-
ities are indicated. Louis Marshall, cal presence in the ghetto." She
the famed Jewish lawyer and emphasizes the profound econ-
head of the American Jewish Corn- omit effect this would have on
mittee, played a role in fighting the ghetto.
against
Mrs. Berson takes into account
discrimination
housing
Negroes. Jews and Negroes were the New York school problem and
partners in political aspirations the anti-Semitic writings of Floyd
and there was an alliance between McKissick. The role of the unions,
them. the emergence of the Jewish De-
"Days of Brotherhood" is the fense League, the riots in many
description given to joint NegrO- American cities are factors in this
Jewish efforts and it is shown study that prove that "black pow-
that Jews "out of proportion to erlessness as much as penury in-
their numbers in the population cited disorder." Mrs. Berson also
participated in the struggle for points to signs that Negroes are
civil rights. There was a per- gaining "seats of the mighty" as
iod when synagogues were proven in their recent political
bombed in the South by bigots successes.
Describing the "ugly words" of
but rabbis and laymen declared
their loyalty to the cause of black militants in their recent at
justice.". But soon there were tacks an Jews, Mrs. Berson states
chapters, while affiliated with the
charges, by men like James thft in spite of the good intentions
"Jewish nationals"—mainly ZBT
Baldwin, that Jews were doing of Jewish leaders "it is difficult to
and Alpha Epsilon Pi—the fact the dirty work of the Christians imagine that Jews will easily for-
is, as reported by Auslander, the
get or forgive." She states that the
as middle men. Alfred Kazin
membership of these chapters runs
charged that the Jewish heri- new black militants' anti-Semitic .
a neat 50-50 Jewish and Gentile. tage had "deteriorated into noth- credo will have its effect in all
One of the reasons why the
ingness" and during the frag- black ghettos. But the author con-
Jewish fraternity leadership feels mentation of the civil rights
eludes more positively:
impelled to pledge Gentiles—apart movement there were repeated
"The fate of the Negro-JeWish
from the spreading disinterest "tired phrases of brotherhood" relationship lies beyond the power -
among today's Jewish students in but, Mrs. Berson concedes, a of , either, or even both, parti6s
membership—is that the Gentile
shifting away by the mass of to determine. It lies in white —.
fraternities, once the campus bas- Jews from sympathy for Neg- America's response to the black
tions of WASP purity in member-
challenge. The resolution of these
roes, primarily as a result of the
ship, have been actively recruit-
hatreds, or their magnifieatitur,
militant black nationalism.
ing the same Jewish prospects
All of the ensuing developments lies in a choice between making
they used to regularly rebuff.
are outlined here—the emergence what Gunnar Myrdal called !the
Auslander contended that his of the leftist movement, the con- American creed' of equality, a
fraternity has been successful in troversy over politics between Bay- reality, or junking it. Upon this
staying alive on campus by invit- ard Rustin and Stokely Carmick decision rests the fate not only 'Of
ing Gentiles as members. In 1966, ael, the "thunder on the left," the the Negro's quest for dignity—and
ZBT had one chapter at the Madi- "urban confrontation betweeii justice, and the Jew's search- for
son campus, with 100 members. Jews and Negroes."
security, but also the fate and the
Now, five years later, there are
Parallelisms are drawn by Mrsi fiiture of the United States of
six ZBT units in Wisconsin, with Berson between Zionism and America as both a great power
a combined membership of at least Black Nationalism and the les-, and a democracy." —P.S.
225 members.
But this survival policy does
not work on campuses where Jew-
ish fraternity "traditions" exist
The Paul Baerwald Scho'ol
against Gentile members, he said.
He reported that the ZBT chapter
of social Work,
in Madison has remained exclu-
established at the I
sively Jewish throughout its 50-
Hebrew
University, by the
year history, despite "numerous
J.D.G. in 1958, has
efforts to extend membership to
graduated Some
Gentile members and despite the
transition of the national frater-
470 social workers who
nity to a point where an average
now serve Israel's man
of one out of two members in all
social agencies and
150 undergraduate chapters is not
Jewish." He concluded that the
ministries.
future was "bleak" for the Jew-
ish fraternity that found itself un-
able to break with a past tradi-
tion of a totally Jewish member-
ship, as "opposed to the new hybrid
chapter that has adjusted to its
environment" by accepting Gen-
tiles.
Israel's level of longevity
ZBT at Marquette, AEPi at Mar-
is 69 gears for men--
quette and ZBT at Wisconsin Uni-
pars for women_
versity at Parkside have gone in
this direction just about as far
as they can go. Auslander re-
ported that those chapters are
now made up entirely of Gentile
members.
Lenora E. Berson, an editorial
researcher who teaches sociology
Economic difficulties and fee costs reduced Jewish divorces in at Drexel College, Philadelphia,
has made a thorough study of the
Warsaw by 30 per cent.
The Soviet government released 700 prisoners and reduced the race issue and as author of "Case
sentences of 108 others after criticism of class discrimination in the Study of a Riot," won a role of
meting out of justice was levelled in Izvestia by Aaron Stolz, a Jewish priority in her knowledge of the
racial issues. In her "The Negroes
member of the Commissariat of Justice.
Nazi editor M. von Leers asserted: "We must preach fanatic anti- and the Jews," published by Ran-
Semitism until the Jewish question is radically solved. It is our duty dom House, she has incorporated
to declare an unreconcilable hatred of the Jews. If we have so far all of the recent experiences in-
remained within legal bounds it was not because of love of the Con- volved in the emerging issues and
her work must be viewed as a
stitution but because of Hitler's orders."
The Latvian government cut its subsidy to the Latvian Yiddish most valuable record of the rela-
tionship between the two groups
Theater from $4,000 to $2,000.
There were four more Jewish suicides in poverty-stricken Poland. in this country.
Mrs. Berson, whose husband is
Moritz Steiner, the oldest Czech extant, died in Prague on his
a Pennsylvania legislator and a
101st birthday.
Joseph Hyman of the Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish leader in the Philadelphia reform
:'agency for Palestine reported that the conditions of Jews in Eastern movement, starts her review of
Europe, especially Poland and Romania, were "indescribably bad." the many complex issues with a
Philadelphia story, about the
10 Years Ago This Week: 1961
Israel Education Minister Abba Eban eulogized U. S. Gen. Walter storekeeper Max Gordon, "the
Bedell Smith, a Catholic, and disclosed that Smith had once confessed Jewish merchant, grocer and land-
lord who has become the face
to him "in a burst of emotion" that he had "Jewish blood."
Sir Victor Sassoon, Anglo-Indian philanthropist and industrialist, of white urban America," and the
Negro antagonist. The book be-
died in the Bahamas at the age of 80.
The trial of Adolf Eichmann ended after 126 days. Defense attor- comes, as the author describes it,
- ey Robert Servatius concluded: "The Jewish people did not exist "the strange story of the rela-
before the establishment of Israel, hence no crime against the Jewish tionship between the Negroes and
people as such could have been committed." Besides, he said. Tich- the Jews . . . the story of the
mann's task was not extermination but to "take care of any hitches facts and the myths, the real and
that developed in the transport of Jews." Eichmann said he was the illusory . . . of the effect of
this ambivalent partnership on
"greatly surprised" at his "fair and decent treatment" by Israel.
Anxiety mounted among Algerian Jews as terrorist actions America's past, present and
future."
increased.
The past takes into account
A London Jewish family that had sued Egypt for $33,600,000 for
Jewish settlement in the South,
expropriated property was awarded $8,700,000.
miscegenation and developing
Marc Turkow, a representative of Argentina's DATA, said Martin
conditions which were related to
Bormann was in Brazil.
an emerging "Populism and its
Premier Ben-Gurion's Mapai Party lost ground in Israel's elec-
attendant anti-Semitism" and out
tions, but remained the dominant party with 34.5 per cent of the
of it emerged this condition: "the
votes, and sought partners for a new coalition.
After 10 years' work, Dr. Robert Goldfarb of the Chicago Medical Negroes and the Jews found a
common enemy and would now
School isolated the possibly allergy-causing protein in ragweed pollen.
40 Years Ago This Week: 1931
Serious Challenge on the Campus
With Gentile Membership, Does a Fraternity Cease Being Jewish?
By BEN GALLOB
(Copyright 1971, JTA Inc.)
If the Jewish college fraternity
04.411 r can survive in today's egalitarian
mood only by taking in Gentile
students, can it still be considered
a Jewish fraternity when the pro-
portion of non-Jewish members at
a particular house reaches • 100
per cent? . .
There are three such fraternity
houses at Wisconsin universities
and there may well be more to
come.
The risk to the Jewish "identity"
of such fraternities inherent, in
the acceptance of non-JeWish mem-
bers appears to be within the ac-
ceptable range for at least one
fraternity official, Jeff H. Aiis-
lander, former fraternity advisor
at the University of Wisconsin at
Milwaukee and district governor
of the Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity.
He outlined his views in a report
published in the Wisconsin JeW-
ish Chronicle, in which he briefly
described the history and current
status of Jewish fraternity and
sorority life at a number of Wis-
contin universities. They included
Wisconsin University at -Madison,
Wisconsin University at Milwau-
kee, Wisconsin State University at
Oshkosh, Wisconsin State Univer-
sity at Superior and Marquette
University.
The much sought-after "group.
identity" that the fraternity of-
fered in the 1950s and 1960s, as
Auslander put it, has given way
to "student activism and the
search for self-expression of the
19'70s." The impact on the frat-
ernities has been a steadily grow-
ing disinterest in such affilia-
tion among college students,
Jewish and non-Sewish alike.
There are only two Jewish frat-
ernities still in existence at the
Madison branch of the Univer-
sity of Wisconsin and both are
struggling. During the past six
years, Jewish fraternity mem-
bership at the Madison campus
has tumbled by some 90 per
cent and all three Jewish soror-
ities at Madison have folded,
according to Auslander.
But a "new hybrid" has emerged
at Wisconsin colleges—and else-
where—which "promises to con-
tinue the existence of the 'Jewish
fraternity,' " according to Auslan-
der. Thus, the Jewish fraternity
chapter has reappeared at Wis-
consin University in Milwaukee,
WSU at Oshkosh and WSU at
Superior, partly as a result of in-
creased Jewish enrollment at those
schools. This is credited to the
"new hybrid," which plainly put,
means those houses pledging Gen-
tile students. Thus, in the revived
Golda Meir Insists on Guarding
Inalienability of JNF Public Lands
TEL AVIV—Speaking at a joint 1 national soil and its use in terms
meeting of the leadership of the of hereditary leaseholdship only.
Identifying herself with the JNF
Israel Labor Party and Mapam
stand, she emphatically opposed
Party, Prime Minister Golda Meir, a recent proposal that the govern-
found strong words to condemn the ment and the Keren Kayemeth sell
abandonment of Zionism's funda- land of housing projects to flat
mental guidelines and moral val- owners in buildings containing
ues.
more than one story. "Certainly
In particular, she dwelt on the not," she concluded. "I am in no
principal of the Keren Kayemeth way prepared to endorse such a
—since 1960 adopted for practic- sale or to condone the selling-out
ally all government and other pub- of our sacred national principles
lic lands— of the inalienability of as though they were old clothes."
--, 48 Friday, August 13, 1971
—
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
IT'S A FACT
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