2 Friday, November 2, 1919
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Purely Commentary
By Philip
Slomovitz
A Cooperative Task of the Best Minds in America in
Striving to Assure Realism in All Human Relations ...
DiviSiveness Ruled Out in Declaration of Libertarians
The Nation's Leadership Testifies to the Realities of Civil Rights and True Neighborliness
An unfortunate impression continues to dominate the news and feature columns
that the friendly utterances of a number of black leaders, notably Vernon Jordan and his
associates, are misleading the public into believing the blacks are selling out to whites,
and the implication is the Jews, in the controversy that is now known as a black-Jewish
issue.
Two black writers in the Detroit News authored columns that are far from the
amicable expected in a situation that has resulted in more confusion than on any other
issue on the American political and social scenes.
One went so far as to warn Jews that the John Connally position will harm them
more than any that might come from the Carter Administration. Another contended that
the financial support from whites, and one could read into it Jews, is among the sins
committed in the present rift, if there is indeed a rift.
These are unfortunate developments and the implications do not necessarily mean
that the black community is antagonistic to Jewry.
• There is evidence in an important statement that has been issued by the Leadership
Conference on Civil Rights. It declares:
The undersigned black and Jewish organizations are deeply concerned
over recent reports of a rift between blacks and Jews. That we have our
differences is clear. But to suggest' that such differences constitute an
irreparable rift is to misunderstand the nature of a coalition and of our
relationship.
The essence of our plural democracy is that it encourages every group
to express its views on whatever issues it chooses in accordance with its
own values and judgment. It is out of such differing values, judgments and
priorities that the temper of our society is forged.
A free plural society demands not the elimination of differences but the
expression of differing views without rancor, racism or anti-Semitism.
For 30 years we, together with other groups, have worked through the
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights in furtherance of its stated purpose:
to establish "an integrated, democratic plural society in which every
individual is accorded equal rights, equal opportunities and equal justice
without regard to race, sex, religion, ethnic origin, handicap or age; and in
which every group is accorded an equal opportunity to enter fully into the
general life of the society with mutual acceptance and regard for dif-
ference."
In pursuit of that goal, as members of the Leadership Conference, we
have committed ourselves to support, "as a matter of right a useful job at
a decent wage for all who are employable or who can be made so by training
or retraining; income sufficient to provide all others with the essentials for
living in dignity and self-respect; decent housing in a decent environment
for all; medical care for all in health, sickness and disability; and education
to the limit of each person's capacity to benefit from it."
That shared commitment continues undiminished. Our years together
have been marked by great advances, great achievements. The work that
still must be done is too important to let differences divide us.
As significant as the statement itself are the signatories to it. They are:
Richard M. Ballard, national president, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.;
Syd Bykofsky, president, United Hebrew Trades; Marjorie Merlin Cohen,
executive director, National Council of Jewish Women; Bishop Charles H.
Foggie,- secretary, Board of Bishops, African Methodist Episcopal Zion
Church; Bertram Gold, executive director, American Jewish Committee;
Benjamin Hooks, executive director, National Association for the Ad-
vancement of Colored People; Vernon Jordan, president, National Urban
League; Aline Kaplan, executive director, Hadassah; Frieda S. Leemon,
national president, Pioneer Women; Theodore R. Mann, chairman, Na-
tional Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council; Emanuel Murav-
chik, executive director, Jewish Labor Committee; and Bayard Rustin,
president, A. Philip Randolph Institute.
Also, Doriithy Height, president, National Council of Negro Women; S.
Garry Oniki, executive director, Office for Church in Society, United
Church of Christ; Nathan Perlmutter, executive director, Anti-Defamation
League of Bnai Brith; Nathan Peskin, executive director, Workmen's Circle;
William M. Ross, executive director, Recruitment and Training Program;
Eleanor R. Schwartz, executive director, National Federation of Temple
Sisterhoods; Simon Schwartz, president, United Synagogue of America;
Rabbi Henry Siegman, executive director, American Jewish Congress;
Harris B. Stone, national commander, Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A.;
Inez W. Tinsley, national president, National Association of Colored
Women's Clubs; Rabbi Alexander Schindler, president, Union of American
Hebrew Congregations; Evelyn Wasserstrom, president, Bnai Brith
Women; and Dr. Fredda Witherspoon, national president Iota Phi Lambda
Sorority, Inc.
The signatories to the statement represent a cross section of Americans. Blacks and
whites, Christians and Jews, having joined forces in a call for the best in human
relations, indicate that a unity of spirit can eliminate rancor. That's what is at stake and
the combined forces of the most intelligent in America can avert crises of all dimensions.
There is no belittling the fact that the most eminent men and women in the
American community seek the perpetuation of friendships and the refutation of mis-
statements.
Rifts in the American community are inexcusable. Anything that would lead to
giving credibility to those seeking alliances with the PLO, the movement as extreme as
the Ku Klux Klan, or to dignify the John Connally attempt to frighten Americans into
believing that ttie Israel issue leads to oil embargoes and to threats to this country, must
lead to the enrollment of every available political instrument to rebuke the intended
divisiveness.
The American people will surely know how to treat the human needs and the
honorable foreign relations between two friendly nations like the United States and
Israel in their proper perspectives.
Charles E Coughlin: A Name Inerasable from Anti-Semitism
(Copyright 1979, JTA, Inc.)
Charles E. Coughlin wrote his own obituary when he
was still in his 40s. He had an opportunity to remove him-
self from the anti-Semites. Instead, of his own free will, he
gained an indelible spot in the story of anti-Semitism.
When he began his attacks on the world bankers he
embraced the most ridiculous and shabbiest of world
forgeries, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and insisted
upon using it as his second Bible.
This Commentator met with him — the first Jewish
newspaperman to interview him. He was invited to write-
an article about the Protocols. That exposure was printed,
as the Royal Oak Father promised, in his "Social Justice."
But the very next week he had his editor write another
piece repudiating the repudiation. In other words, all the
condemnations of the Protocols, which began with the Lon-
don Times articles in 1921, didn't matter to him. If Jews
were to be condemned, the Protocols were to be among the
means for that purpose.
Therefore, when in the midst of Nazi onslaughts on
Jews Coughlin joined the vilest of anti-Semites in his at-
tacks on the Jewish people, this Commentator yielded to
resentment to call him a sadist. He disliked it. Who
wouldn't? But it didn't matter much insofar as truth was
concerned: he placed his faith in the most disreputable of
fraudulent writing which stemmed from Russian anti-
Semitism published in 1902.
Father Coughlin had built up a nationwide following
and in his heyday was given financial support, by many
Jews. One of the many chapters in his career must not be
overlooked. His "Social Justice" magazine was printed by
the late Morris Steinberg (Morris Printing Co.). Steinberg
invested a lot of money in order to live up to the contract
with Coughlin. But Coughlin pressured him into bank-
ruptcy. Then, as in other instances, the social aspects and
justice were in question. Coughlin not only had his prej-
udices and refused to recognize untruths in the Protocols
and truth in dealing with the tragedy of the Jews in the
Nazi era, but also was tough with the printer who had given
him great devotion.
Coughlin's "Social Justice" magazine once featured on
the front page a photograph of President Franklin D.
Roosevelt with a yellow streak on his back. It was at the
time the Radio Priest broke ranks with FDR and
threatened to form another political party to defeat him.
"Social Justice" subscriptions declined by 40 percent.
_Coughlin broke his printing contract with Morris Stein-
berg and had his "Social Justice" printed by a Chicago
publishing house. There was a law suit and Steinberg was
awarded $12,000 damages. It was not enough to save his
business after he had installed very expensive machinery
to meet the contract terms with Coughlin.
relations is needed to assure that commentators will not
resort to sanctimony while permitting distortions to poison
the minds of uninformed Americans.
McGovern's Proposed Gold Medal
from Congress Honoring Wiesenthal's
He must have had his good qualities, yet he did not Efforts in Hunting the Nazi Criminals
obtain sufficient inner strength to say he was sorry about
his anti-Semitism.
He had that chance when the late Jacob (Jack) Gel-
fand, in whose supermarket Coughlin shopped, influenced
Coughlin to purchase a $500 Israel Bond. This Commen-
tator would not publish the photo until after Mr. Gelfand's
death. At the outset he wrote to Coughlin suggesting he
repudiate his anti-Semitism. Then the photo of the Bond
purchase would have been front page stuff. Coughlin didn't
reply.
Meanwhile, he permitted his being linked with the
world's vilest anti-Semites. Every modern history, all the
works about anti-Semitism, by Jews and non-Jews, con-
tain the name Charles E. Coughlin as one of the leaders in
movements fostering hatred for Jews. That's what
Coughlin chose. That's how it remains in all historical
records.
Sanctimony on Channel 7:
Half-Truths Worse Than Lies
in Dealing With Middle East
GEORGE McGOVERN
SIMON WIESENTHAL
A program devoted to would-be refugees from the Mid-
dle East, on Channel 7, resulted in such distortions of facts
that what was undoubtedly a well-meaning approach to the
issue caused much harm.
U.S. Senator George McGovern's request that mem-
bers of both branches of Congress should be asked to sup-
port his bill to authorize a Congressional Gold Medal for
Simon Wiesenthal should receive an active response.
The interrogator-commentator could have been better
briefed on the subjects tackled. The half-truths regarding
Israel's treatment of Arabs, the misuse of the term Zionism,
the portrayal of a conquest without giving due regard to the
historic rebirth of the state of Israel, resulted in a compila-
tion of distortions that were deplorable.
Senator McGovern outlined, in an impassioned and
convincing speech, the reasons for his proposal. He called
attention to the services rendered by Mr. Wiesenthal
through his Jewish Documentation Center in Vienna
which exposes the Nazi crimes and assists in hunting down
the criminals who are still at large.
Much needed to be proven about the claims projected
on that program. The questioner emerged as too-little in-
formed on the actual situation. His conclusions surely call
for correction and setting the record straight.
It was through the Wiesenthal efforts that Israel lo-
cated and captured the arch criminal Adolf Eichmann.
Mr. Wiesenthal continues his efforts and has earned
the recognition proposed for him.
Equal time for a response hardly corrects the injustice
emanating from such a program. A new type of public
Senator McGovern needs assistance in enrolling the
support of Senators and Congressmen.