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THE OAKLAND I HARDWARE Er UIMBERYA 1 HOME CENTER 1 iD eV CAN WITH 1 Coupon r2r9C9u1stomer 669-2022 2775 Haggerty, just N. of Pontiac Trail NE min N. am as =I Ns so we ow =I me am am - 40 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1991 Our Conscience: Conscience: To Bigotry No Sanction Our own generation for Americans of all faiths has phoned in the repeated need to appeal to the conscience of mankind not to condone pre- judice and persecution and all manifestations of re- ligious bias. In the years of Nazi persecutions and the threats to the many millions who were subjected to the Hitlerite hatreds we appeal- ed to the Christian com- munities to make their churches soundingboards against anti-Semitism and all religious and racial hatreds. When we con- fronted silence we were shocked that there should be failure in the human cons- cience. Is it possible that we are confronting a similar situa- tion today? There is no longer a doubt that racial prejudices have not been squelched. We are witnesses to conditions of increasing anti-Semitism. The condi- tions in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, are the most shocking and intolerable. There is a warning of the most menacing aspects to the black community as well as to the Chasidim. No one desires to be silent to an admonition by New York Times op-ed page columnist A.M. Rosenthal, who made this stirring ap- peal to justice and common sense: But no black or black- white issues will be eased as long as anti-Semites and anti-Semitism continue to be unanswered and so ob- viously tolerated within the black community. Fighting the bigots, black and white, is not a social or political matter — it is a moral obligation. I hope it becomes everybody's bus- iness, though I am not as hopeful as I was only re- cently — before Crown Heights, and the great silence. In any case, Jews cannot be silent, or talk in soft, "sensitive" platitudes — not because they have most to lose, but the most to remember. We must turn back the pages of history to two cen- turies ago, to learn from the principles established by the founding fathers of our re- public. It was in his message to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, R.I., that always takes the lead in the battles against race hatred,recognized the rioting, looting and bodily harm to many Jews as the ugliest form of anti- Semitism. His condemnation demands widest recognition and emphasis by all honorable citizens. This is his judgment against the shocking un-Americanism in Crown Heights: George Washington: "To bigotry no sanction." George Washington made this inerasable declaration: All possess alike liberty of conscience and im- munities of citizenship. It is now no more that tolera- tion is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exer- cise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protec- tion should demean themselves as good citi- zens, in giving it on all oc- casions their effectual support. Abraham. Foxman: "It should not be invisible." In Crown Heights emerged the most outrageous of pro- Nazi black hatred of Jews. Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti- Defamation league, which Anti-Semitism is all over the place in Crown Heights. It is ugly, it is crude, it is classical and it is deadly. And the fact that it is American and it is black should not make it invisible or tolerable. New horrors and in- humanities have arisen on the American scene and it does not call for much imagination to realize with what contempt George Washington and all decent Americans of both centuries and all denominations would have treated the spreading anti-Semitism. Honorable Americans have no hesita- tion in denouncing racial hatred. Those who them- selves are subject to race pre- judice could be expected from endorsing religious bigotries and anti-Semitism. Some irresponsible black spokesmen have failed to do so. The lessons taught in true American tradition, forcibly expressed by our founding President, must demand constant learning and fulfillment. George Wash- ington did not express, "To bigotry no sanction" only to the citizens of his time. It is meant for all hooligans and their sick-minded leaders in gangsterism who have thus far been restrained by police action from instigating pogroms. It is now for the decent- minded of all races and faiths to keep providing and adhering to honorable American citizenship that must never permit hooliganism, whether against Chasidim or any other Americans. To George Washington's address of 200 years ago is added the powerful expose of anti-Semitism by Abraham Foxman. It comes as a new affirmation by all responsi- ble Americans never to be silent whenever a racist, a bigot, an anti-Semite ap- pears on the scene. The