56 Friday, August 31, 1919 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Editor Analyzes Black-Jewish Rift Over Young Affair There is one more issue (Continued from Page 1) Jews to the civil rights I must raise with you: movement are chapters in ing as friends under the pre- tense of working for the the annals of American his- that of talking to the PLO. common purpose of civil tory that cannot be obliter- Aside from fundamen- rights. This latest affront ated by glib allegations tally different reveals clearly that. their about suspect motives and assessments of that loyalties are not compatible dual loyalties. Let's have organization — the with the struggle of black done with the approach of Jewish people and Israel see it as a pure and simple Americans for equal oppor- the accountant's ledger. terrorist outfit while tunity under the law. In- some black leaders see it deed, we question whether as the vanguard of the their loyalties are first to Palestinian people — the the state of Israel or to the issue for Israel and the United States. The loyalties Jewish people has never of black Americans have been one of talking or not never been questioned." talking to the PLO. I suspect that the fact The fact is that the PLO that you and other black has "talked" to Israel and leaders were so quick to the Jewish people and to question the motives and many non-Jews — but from loyalties of "many" behind the barrel of a sub- American Jews was be- machinegun, a hand gre- cause this thought was nade, a bomb, and a repressed, at least in Kalichnikoff rifle. terms of public state- How does one, whose life MURRAY ZUCKOFF ments, until a suitable is ebbing away in a kibutz, excuse could be found to It was to the interest of at Avivim, or in the center let it "all hang out." black sto seek and accept In all candor I strongly Jewish support, and support of Kiryat Shmona or feel that you and other in the general white com- Jerusalem, or on a lonely beach near a highway be- black leaders used, yes, munity, because they could tween Haifa and Tel Aviv, used, Young's resignation not go it alone, just as Jews or on a hi-jacked airliner, to release repressed hostil- need allies and alliances be- talk to a person who has ity toward American cause they too cannot go it committed this atrocity, Jewish leaders and Jewish alone. When black-white this barbarism, this act of organizations for real or unity began to dissolve, unspeakable violence? imaginary grievances. The black militants resorted to How many black Ameri- allegations of dual or prior the desperate tactic of cans spoke to racist club- loyalties is an old canard "burn, baby, burn" and the wielding goons? How many unworthy of your position "long hot summers" ensued. black Americans thought of as an educator. But be that as it may. talking to the killers of I don't recall that at any blacks to seek and accept Medgar Evers? How many time during the civil rights loyalty to the state of Israel black Americans engaged struggle any Jew fighting alongside black brothers or to the United States is in a dialogue with the mur- sheer subterfuge and unfor- derers who snuffed out the and sisters was asked to tunately on a par with many lives of .the young children sign a loyalty oath or to take hate groups that also ques- in a church in Birmingham, a sincere-o-meter test be- fore taking up a position on tion the loyalties of Jews, Ala.? And = how many and of blacks and of all other Jews asked black Ameri- a picket line or participat- minority groups. This is the cans to talk to any of these ing in marches, or being racists and murderers? beaten or arrested, or killed wrong company for a black The PLO is not an or- leader to find-herself in. — as were the Michael Why should yOu ques- ganizing force among the Schwerners, along with the tion the loyalty of the Palestinian people. Rather, Medgar Everses. One of the unfortunate priority of loyalties of it seeks to usurp all power consequences of discussing Jews? Would you ques- for itself. tion the loyalty of This is the opposite of the contributions by Jews to the Catholic Americans who civil rights black leadership civil rights movement under the conditions of try- look toward the Vatican which mobilized and in- for spiritual guidance? spired people on all levels. ing to dispel allegations such as the ones you have Would you question the There is no recorded au- raised is that it frequently loyalty of Moslem Ameri- thenticated instant where tends to degenerate into a cans who look toward black leaders engaged in Mecca? Would you ques- terrorist assaults even upon haggle on the part of both tion the loyalty of Black their most vicious oppo- blacks and Jews, each side fully equipped with a ledger Muslims who swear fidel- nents. ity to Mohammed? Would Incidentally, I don't recall of who did what, where, when and for whom. But the you question the loyalty any Palestinians on civil civil rights struggle was of those blacks who sup- rights marches or demon- port African liberation strations, nor do I recall any -never reducible to a line leaders of the PLO express- item in a bookkeeping movements? Nor was black loyalty ing solidarity with current ledger or a promissory note of eternal unity by either questioned by the local cops black struggles and objec- and the FBI who tailed and tives in the United States. side for deeds done. The danger in getting in- contributions surveilled, arrested and kil- The made by Jews were not in led, and forced into silence volved with the PLO — a the form of saleable and exile so many militant foreign power — is that commodities to be black leaders and spokes- those doing so are getting involved in a cause which is bought when needed or men. No the loyalty of black not their own, methods and returned for credit, nor were they conceived as Americans was never ques- traditions of struggle not debts to the black people tioned, just their right to their own, and objectives which could be stamped live as human beings, in not their own. It might be well, in this "cancelled" at an arbit- dignity, and to enjoy "life, regard, to recall the state- liberty and the pursuit of rary moment. ment by Eldridge Cleaver in No, the contributions of happiness." his tract, "On the Ideology of the Black Panther Party": For too long black people have relied on the analysis and ideological perspective of others . . . . There are those who are all too willing to do our think- ing for us, even if it gets us killed. However, they are not willing to follow through and do our dying for us. If thoughts bring_ about our deaths, let them at least be our own thoughts, so_ that we will have broken, once and for all, with the flunkyism of dying for every cause and every error — except our own." fiery, were Those passionate words, and I say, "right on." But righton with blacks and Jews in solidar- ity for a cause that has not yet been achieved, for a cause whose day is ripe, for a cause that will enrich both Jews and blacks by making democracy more vital. So let's get on with it for the sake of preventing the "fire next time" that may engulf both of us. Jewish Leaders Respond to Black Leaders' Remarks vention meeting in Detroit last week issued a state- ment , attacking recent re- ports of a .rift between the country's black and Jewish leaders over United States policy in the Middle East and over the resignation of Andrew Young as chief United States delegate at the UN. In a statement signed by Gus Hall, the party's gen- eral secretary, the reports were called "a cleverly de- signed trick." Angela Davis, the black activist and a party Central Committee member and Herbert Ap- theker, also a Central Committee member and editor of the publication Jewish Affairs, also signed the statement. In Washington, Patricia Harris, secretary of the De- partment of Health, Educa- tion and Welfare, deplored the possibility of a rift be- tween the Jewish and black communities, but said she does not expect that a "per- manent breach" will take place. The highest-ranking black member in the Car- ter Administration and the President's only black Cabinet member spoke out on the issue of black-Jewish relations on ABC-TV's "Issues and Answers." In New York, chanting shirs against Jews and the state of Israel, about 150 black Americans, American-Arabs and their sympathizers staged a two-hour demonstration Monday in front of the Is- raeli Consulate and the Is- rael Mission to the United Nations. The demonstration was sponsored and organized by the Black United Front as a protest, according to a press release given to reporters during the demonstration, against "the Zionist racist pressure which resulted in the- dismissal of Ambas- sador Andrew Young_" "Death to Israel, death to Zionism, long live the PLO," the demonstrators chanted vigorously in response to NEW YORK (JTA) Leaders of major Jewish organizations declared, in response to statements is- sued by a black leadership conference in New York on the impact of Andrew Young's resignation on black-Jewish relations, that the Jewish agencies "cannot work with those who resort to half-truths, lies and bigotry in any guise or from any source." The response emerged from a meeting of represen- tatives of the 11 major na- tional Jewish agencies affil- iated with the National Jewish Community Rela- tions Advisory Council, which also represents 107 Jewish Community Rela- tions Councils throughout the United States. The affiliated agencies are the American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, Anti- Defamation League of Bnai Brith, Hadassah, Jewish Labor Committee, Jewish War Ve - rans, National Council of Jewish Women, Union of American Hebrew Congregations (Reform), United Synagogue of America (Conservative), Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, and Women's American ORT. The subject of the Jewish statement was a meeting attended by some 200 leaders of the NAACP, the National Urban League and the Christian Southern Leadership Conference which criticized the Car- ter Administration and the Jewish organizations in tie resignation of Young as U.S. Ambas- sador to the United Na- tions. Meanwhile, delegates to the Communist Party con- PLO, to come to the U.S. to discuss Mideast issues. In a related development, Israel Deputy Premier Yigael Yadin warned that "appeasing the PLO mgith have serious consequences in the -process of carrying out the Camp David ac- cords." At the same time; Robert Strauss, president Carter's special Ambassador for Middle East negotiations defended the U.S. poli not talking to the PLC stressed he is seeking to bring Palestinians into the. peace process. Strauss' position on the PLO was criticized by former Undersecretary of State George Ball who said the U.S. should "lib- erate" itself from the pledge to Israel and begin negotiations with the PLO. In Washington, the Car- ter Administration rejected claims by defenders of Am- bassador Andrew Young that Israel determines U.S. foreign policy because of the 1975' American commit- ment not to deal with the PLO until it agrees to oft- stated conditions. Meanwhile, at the United Nations, in an action widely interpreted as a personal tribute to outgoing U.S. Ambassador Young, the Se- curity Council adjourned last Friday after accepting U.S. efforts to postpone a vote on a draft -resolution calling for "self- determination, national in- dependence and sover- eignty" for Palestinian Arabs. - The postponement, which was not linked to a specific date for fresh consideration by the council, was viewed as a significant achieve- ment for Young, who res- igned under pressure fol- lowing disclosure he met July 26 with Zehdi Lahib "Terzi, the PLO observer at the UN, at the apartment in New York of Abdalla Yac- coub Bishara, the Kuwaiti delegate. Prior to the opening of the Security Council de- bate, Ambassador‘Young approached Israeli Am- Theodore Mann, bassador Yehuda Blum president of the Con- and shook his hand. ference of Presidents Among the persons Car- of Major American ter is considering to replace Jewish Organiza- Young is Sol M. Linowitz, a tions, will discuss the negotiator of the Panama black-Jewish issue Canal treaties. 9:30 p.m. today on the .t It also was learne Channel 56 program, officials of the Central In- "Another Voice." telligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investi- various speakers who de- gation dismissed or refused manded that the U.S. to confirm media reports should change its Mideast about Israeli intelligence policy and recognize Pales- operations stemming from tinian rights. Young's meeting with a Meanwhile, a national PLO representative. public information program Wednesday evening, aimed at explaining the ABC News reported that "true goals of the PLO to the U.S. intelligence agents American black commu- bugged Young's New York - nity" has been launched by apartment and knew in ad- the Zionist Organization of vance of his secret July 26 America, according to IN r meeting with the PLO Novick, president. representative. Attorney Paul General Benjamin Civiletti Congressman Findley (R-Ill.) has invited said he knew of no such sur- Yasir Arafat, head of the veillance.