THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, January 14, 1983 19 Martin Luther King's Civil Rights Battle Had Impact on Jewish Community Too By RABBI BENJAMIN KAMIN World Union for Progressive Judaism Martin Luther King, Jr. would have been 54 years old Saturday. Since his death at age 39, Dr. King's dreams have evaporated and most Americans have turned inward. It is getting harder and harder to remember how Dr. King ignited us, changed us, and returned American Jews to their prophetic tradition. But he did. The Jews, a people with generally decentralized patterns, responded to King as to no other American in the country's history. In ef- fect, he became the living moral flagship for the na- tion —and especially for the liberal Jewish community in the 1960s. The Jews had applauded Harry Tru- man's courageous en- dorsement of Israel is 1948 and gathered around Bobby Kennedy in the 1960s, but had never involved them- Who's Got APPLE Software? (and more) station 11111 11111° . 10% OFF WITH THIS AD 24484 W Ten Mile Rd. Southfield, Ml 48034(313) 358-5820 I./ block W. of Telegraph) Offer ends 1 . 24.83 MARTIN LUTHER KING selves emotionally and physically as was the case with Dr. King. With uncharacteristic exuber- ance, and real bravery, Jews trusted and worked for Martin Luther King. Albert Vorspan, vice president of the Union of American Hebrew Congre- gations (UAHC) and direc- tor of its Commission on So- cial Action, was an associ- ate of Dr. King in the civil rights movement. He re- calls that the black-Jewish alliance was at the heart of the movement. "He had an extraordinary impact upon us," Vorspan recalls. "Like no other non-Jewish part- ner, American Jews gave to Dr. King a blank check of commitment." A remarkable Black- Jewish partnership was galvanized by Dr. King. In the great struggle to de- segregate the South, rabbis were hosed and beaten and jailed alongside King and the many other freedom fighters of all backgrounds - Kolar Studio Interior Decorating 30780 SOUTHFIELD RD. SOUTHFIELD, MICH. 48076 642-8880 WE DO UPriOLSTERING Also Drapes, Repair Lamps, Upholster Lamp Shades, Match Lamp Shades With Furniture CANING Machine - Hand Caning - Rush Bali 1" Blinds Woven Woods Vertical Blinds vinyl or cloth FREE ESTIMATES 60% OFF 70% OFF All Our Work Guaranteed who joined the battle against the tyranny of ra- cism. Jewish representation was disproportionately high during the dangerous Mis- sissippi summer of 1964 and in every anti- discrimination effort of those times. The notorious and cold-blooded executions in Philadelphia, Miss. of three young civil rights workers in 1964 took the lives of two Jews and one black. At the march on Wash- ington in 1963 and in St. Augustine and Birming- • ham and Selma and Montgomery and Memphis, Jewish involvement in the lifeline of Martin Luther King's campaign for human dignity was signal. The admiration Jews felt for Dr. King, and the strong historical affinity of the Jews to the black experience, was by no means one-sided. When he spoke at the conven- tion of the Union of American Hebrew Con- gregations in Chicago in 1963, Dr. King related his dream to the proven abil- ity of Jews to transcend discouragement and de- spair. In his later writ- ings, the black preacher wrote: "The lesson of Jewish mass involve- ment in social and politi- cal action and education is worthy of emulation." Dr. King encouraged his Own brothers and sisters to become active politi- cally, as Jews had done, in order to assure a more equal role in society. In 1983, however, it can be fairly asked what has be- come of Dr. King's historic struggle. Does the dream he articulated and shared with so many of so many differ- ing backgrounds speak to us still? Certainly, the times are different, the issues blurred by overriding economic ob- sessions. But one is sad- dened by those whose recol- lections of those urgent and heady days have di- minished into nostalgia. Not enough youngsters, black or white, know much about Martin Luther King today, and America in gen- eral has fallen into a res- igned non-concern. That Martin Luther King's dream of full equal- ity in a free society for all Ameriacans remains a vision too far from realiza- tion is our failure, not his. But because we Jews shared so much of what was his, we remember him now, on his birthday, with special warmth, identification and love. For those who want the finest custom furniture at... AFFORDABLE PRICES The simplest cube to the most wall unit built to your specifications by meticulous craftsmen. 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