OPINION CONTENTS Honoring Martyrs With A New Coalition A. JAMES RUDIN Special to The Jewish News I t has been 25 years since the three young civil rights workers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, were murdered in Neshoba County, Miss. The slayings of two Jews and a black on June 20, 1964, stunned the nation and pro- vided an impetus for the passage of important civil rights laws. And, sadly, the murders also provided three martyrs for the black-Jewish "alliance" of the 1960s. Much has changed since that fateful summer of 1964, especially in black-Jewish relations. During that year, I par- ticipated in an interreligious We know very well that racism was not and is not a sectional problem. It is, rather, a nationwide pathology. voting rights drive in Hat- tiesburg, Miss., and was wide- ly praised by the American Jewish community for my action. But when I returned from another civil rights march, this time in Cumming, Ga., just two years ago, I received many letters and phone calls from Jews who sharply criticized me for "marching again for the blacks" (a well known Yiddish epithet was often used). Several callers said that "once was enough" and declared that Jewish par- ticipation in such marches was no longer desirable nor even necessary. As a Jew who was raised in a legally segregated racist society in the South, I active- ly opposed the Jim Crow laws and the many restrictions that prevented blacks from voting. But bad as Southern racism was (and is), I also deeply resented the statements of many Northern Jews who piously proclaimed that anti- Rabbi A. James Rudin is the American Jewish Committee's national interreligious affairs director. He is a founder of the National Interreligious Task Force on Black-Jewish Relations. black attitudes and actions were somehow a problem uni- que to the South. Such Jews believed there were racist states of the Old Confederacy, and that the rest of the United States was free of racial prejudice. It was not true in 1964, and it certainly is not true today. In 1989, we know very well that racism was not and is not a sectional problem. It is, rather, a nationwide pathology. And the American Jewish community recognizes that it, too, is not free of racial hatred and bigotry. This recognition is a step forward away from the dangerous myths of a quarter- century ago, when some Nor- thern Jews pointed fingers of derision and scorn at their Southern brothers and sisters. Now we all know the dirty little secret: Racism is na- tional in scope and infects all religious and ethnic groups. While paying tribute to Schwerner, Chaney and Good- man, we should remember that there never was a formal alliance between blacks and Jews in the 1960s. An alliance implies solemn agreements and systematic programs to achieve specific goals. My own sense of the "Movement" during the 1960s rejects the idea of an alliance. A "working coali- tion" would be a more ac- curate description explaining how a convergence of mutual interests brought some blacks and Jews together back then. For the American Jew, it was clear that restricted freedoms and a lack of full civil rights for blacks also undermined Jewish security in this country. We need not apologize for understanding that our own rights were linked to civil rights for black Americans. Nor should we apologize for the black-Jewish coalition. It made a real difference in 1964. It provided the black- led civil rights movement in the South with the national attention and the moral urgency that helped advance civil rights legislation, especially voting rights. It energized millions of peo- ple and it helped bring about irreversible changes in the United States. But the 1960s coalition was effective for that time and for that place. It should be warm- ly appreciated for what it ac- complished, and all of us Continued on Page 10 24 CLOSE-UP Free To Pray KIMBERLY LIFTON Are Michigan prisoners entitled to religious rights? 50 SPORTS Showing Off 24 MIKE ROSENBAUM Horse-show champ Michelle Friedman won't leave home without Mastercard. 54 MITZVAH PEOPLE Info Sleuths LISA JACKNOW ELLIAS Jewish Information Service volunteers have heard it all. 57 FICTION Holy HYMAN GAIBEL A curious incident unites two men of limited acquaintance. 6 60 AROUND TOWN A fabulous food and games open house drew a fabulous crowd of noshers. 78 TEENS Super Achievers RONNA F. HALL These high school grads balance academics with other interests. DEPARTMENTS 32 38 42 46 61 Inside Washington Fine Arts Synagogues Education Entertainment 82 88 90 91 92 Engagements Births B'nai Mitzvah Single Life Classified Ads CANDLELIGHTING 78 June 23, 1989 8:55 p.m. Sabbath ends June 24 10:02 p.m. THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 7