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September 21, 1990 - Image 150

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1990-09-21

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

I ENTERTAINMENT

A ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

■ ■ ■ ■ ■

AMIE

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

IIIIIIII • • I
4 • I II II • •

Breads, Rolls, Cakes, Cookies, Pastries, Pies and Tortes
A Fresh Approach to Your Holiday Baking

Two Elegant Locations To Serve You:

29480 Northwestern Hwy.

32720 Grand River

Between Franklin and Inkster

In The Village Commons

Southfield

Farmington

350-LOAF

471-LOAF

Ray Charles is not blind to anti-Semitism.

HOME STYLE
COOKING —
WE HAVE
IT ALL . . .
FROM VEAL
TO PASTA!
FRESH FISH
AND
LOTS MORE

LUNCH
from '3.95

DINNER
from '5.50

NEW SPECIALS
EACH DAY

SURF AND TURF
10 oz. N.Y. STRIP & 8 oz LOBSTER

16 OZ. N.Y. STEAK
ON A SIZZLING PLATTER

$24.95

$8.95

All Complete Dinners Include:
Soup or Salad, Potato and Vegetable

'12.95
Value

with coupon
All Complete Dinners Include:
Soup, Salad, Potato and Vegetable

JAMIE'S on 7

29703 Seven Mile, Just West of Middlebelt 477-9077

icn

FRIMY SFPTFMRF1-1 21 iqqn

Reservations Suggested

Ray Charles Has
Ties To Jewish Causes

RITA CHARLESTON

Special to The Jewish News

R

ay Charles was not
born blind, only poor.
But even after los-
ing his vision at age 7, the
music man, famous for such
hits as "Ruby," "I Can't Stop
Loving You" and "Georgia On
My Mind," never lost sight of
the fact that bigotry and pre-
judice can plague any nation,
any culture, any race and any
religion.
Hundreds of thousands of
fingers have hit computer
keyboards retelling the Ray
Charles story. From the
black, blind and orphaned
teen-ager who rose from the
depths of despair in his home
in the deep South, to the man
who went on to achieve legen-
dary success in the entertain-
ment world.
But few have ever taken the
time to recount the man's
humanitarian and charitable
efforts that have also brought
numerous awards and ac-
colades. And among the hun-
dreds of such awards, Charles
claims to have been most
touched by the Beverly Hills
Lodge of the B'nai B'rith's
tribute to him as its "Man of
the Year" in 1976.
"Even though I'm not
Jewish," Charles explains,
"and even though I'm stingy
with my bread, Israel is one
of the few causes I feel good
about supporting."

Modesty, indeed. Charles is
no more "stingy with his
bread" than he is with his
music. But he has learned,
through long, hard and pain-
ful first-hand experience, to
fight segregation and pre-
judice wherever and
whenever he sees it.
Returning to the South in
the 1950s after he had form-

"Blacks and Jews
are hooked up and
bound together by
a common history
of persecution."

— Ray Charles

ed his own band and had his
first big hit record, "I Got a
Woman," his color and the
hatred it stirred in others
became apparent when his
troupe of traveling musicians
went to play a date in
Augusta, Ga. A promoter in-
sisted that the performance
be segregated, with the
blacks sitting upstairs and
the whites downstairs.
"I told the promoter that I
didn't mind segregation, ex-
cept that he had it backwards.
After all, I was black, and it
only made sense to have the
black folk close to me. Let
him sue. I wasn't going to
play. And I didn't. And he
sued. And I lost."
But Charles kept his digni-
ty, and that incident propell-

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