INSIDE WASHINGTON DETROIT'S HIGHEST RATES 12 MONTH CERTIFICATE OF DEPOSIT 7.625% 7.846% 7.750% 7.978% Effective Annual Yield* Minimum Deposit of $500 Effective Annual Yield' Minimum Deposit of $75,000 *Compounded Quarterly Rates subject to change without notice This is a fixed rate account that is in- sured to $100,000 by the Federal Sav- ings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC). Substantial Interest Penalty for early withdrawal from certificate accounts, FIRST SECURITY SAVINGS BANK MAIN OFFICE PHONE 3387700 1760 Telegraph Rd. (Just South of Orchard Lake) HOURS: MON.-THURS. 9:30-4:30 FRI. 9:30-6:00 I DUAL MOUSING OPPORTUNIT Y Mg A rnIn AV A iinricT FSB 10Z1 Democratic Convention Signals Future Problems For Jews JAMES DAVID BESSER Washington Correspondent S everal images from the recent Democratic con- vention are hard to shake: the lusty boos that greeted Rep. Chuck Schumer's spirited defense of Israel; the debate over policies towards Israel that had seemed like basic tenets of the foreign policy process; and the rousing reception for a black minister who, in the recent past, trampled on Jewish sensitivities. Indeed, among some Jewish activists in Washington, the convention in Atlanta generated an almost apoca- lyptic sense of shifting political currents. Jewish voters in general are reassessing their options in November — though few po- litical analysts predict a wholesale defection of Jews to the GOP side, especially in view of George Bush's luke- warm ties to the Jewish community. More significantly, many Jewish activists are begin- ning to reevaluate an ap- proach to ethnic politics that, some say, has become dangerously complacent and self-satisfied. But the feeling of panic that gripped many Jewish ac- tivists transcends the events in Atlanta. The remarkable ascendance of Jesse Jackson is only a small part of a far broader picture that has not yet come into clear focus. In reality, these disconcerting shifts are the result of "a very volatile mix," according to one official with a major Jewish organization in Washington. "There is a whole array of forces at work here, the combination of which presents us with some very serious challenges. How well we deal with those challenges will determine the way Jewish political power is manifested in the next few years?' Jesse Jackson, and the political awakening of a frustrated black electorate, are among those forces. Another is the subtle but ongoing reaction to the disorders in Israel — a trend many see as a very gradual re-assessment on the part of the American public and its leaders of some of the assumptions underlying U.S. support for Israel. Suddenly, according to longtime Jewish activists like David Harris of the American Jewish Committee, it is within the realm of "accept- able" behavior for politicians to openly challenge Israel's actions. Suddenly, advocacy of the Palestinian cause has knocked at the doors of the political mainstream. Some polls — though the data is far from conclusive — suggest an alarming and rapid erosion of support for Israel. Semitism mostly banished from American society? Nobody knows for sure. But the growing body of evidence sets alarm bells jangling. Pro-Israel activists in Washington report that sur- prising hints of anti-Semitism have surfaced in recent debates over arms sales to Arab countries. "What we're suddenly hearing — from some senators and their staffs — is 'Jews are taking away American jobs,' when we op- pose arms sales," said one lob- byist fighting the current pro- posal to sell arms to Kuwait. "This type of argument is coming to the surface in a way unprecedented in my years in Washington." COMMENT Jesse Jackson: Signpost of change. Another factor, more dif- ficult to assess, involves some fundamental changes in the fabric of American society in the past eight years. The disparity between the rich and the poor has in- creased at an unprecedented rate since 1980. The middle class in most parts of the country perceives itself as under attack by uncontrol- lable forces. Economic statistics support this percep- tion, to degrees that are cer- tain to be debated vigorously in the upcoming election. It is clear that the "Reagan recovery" has distributed its favors very unequally. Growing segments of the nation view the future in almost apocalyptic terms. Downward mobility is a very real phenomenon to many families in the 'nation's heartland. Such conditions are fertile ground for the kind of scape- goating that gets turned into anti-Semitism. Recent out- bursts of Jew baiting — among gangs in Los Angeles, blacks in Chicago, farmers in Minnesota — are part and parcel of the diffuse sense of concern mounting within the organized Jewish community. Are these incidents har- bingers of a renewed tenden- cy to blame Jews for every- thing from bad art to bad drought? Or are they isolated recurrences of an anti- On one level, Jewish dis- trust of Jesse Jackson is the obvious result of the anti- Semitism of some people in the Jackson camp, and of Jackson's vocal support for the Palestinian cause. Jack- son's surprising entry into the political mainstream has given other groups political respectability, including Arab-American organizations — which pose a direct challenge to the heart of the Jewish agenda. But more important, in the eyes of many, may be Jack- son's role as a symbol of a new era of fierce minoritygroup competition for influence — and, perhaps, for dwindling resources. More disconcerting still is the fact that this new com- petition may be shaping up at the very moment when a variety of other ethnic groups are learning political lessons that Jews learned several decades ago. Jesse Jackson's candidacy proved that other minorites can forge successful alliances — and that the Jewish com- munity, by a combination of its early hostility to Jackson and its own Complacency about grass-roots organiza- tion, may be excluded from the new power blocks that emerge. But the Democratic conven- tion, and the painful re- assessments that continue in its wake, are signs that change is indeed the order of the day. Jesse Jackson, far from being the root cause of these disconcerting changes, is just one more signpost along the way.