Editor's Notebook
ambling With
etroit's Future
Toiling In
The Shadows
JACOBS MANAGING EDITOR
Thirty years
ago, many of us
had the experi-
ence of getting
in the car and
traveling the
many miles to
Atlantic City.
Back then,
antic City was pretty
ch known as a Jewish re-
t. There were kosher ho-
; there were safe streets
alk and many pleasur-
memories to be made.
Ice also were shuls in the
a and many Jewish agen-
t and activities. Some of
attended B'nai B'rith
th conferences at the old
aker's Hotel on the
irdwalk.
ladly, Jewish Atlantic
y is all but dead, but so
he entire city. The old
ntity of the city is barely
ilembered. Sure, the
tie can be said even of
iv major cities, including
;roit. Atlantic City, even
pre gambling came in the
(Os, was slipping into a
tern of crime, violence,
1.s;e and decay.
, hen came the promises
it casino gambling
`-rght. They included re-
alization of the city's in-
structure, funds for
► ior citizen services and
education. There was to
a return to greatness.
3 a v e you been there late-
You can rest assured
it there is a definite divi-
between the casino ar-
along the boardwalk and
rest of the city. The de-
is still there. For those
can remember the taste
the salt water taffy, the
se diving from the Steel
r, it's all rather sad. It's
icult to watch old men
ing on a ripped up, aban-
ed sofa in 'a vacant lot
wn with brown and
en bottle shards. A bus
nsporting casino cus-
ners from the suburbs
3ses by with a sign above
driver, "Have a Nice
GARY ROSENBLATT EDITOR
done a good job of doing in
the recent past. It would
have to handle itself with re-
sponsibility and account-
ability. The glitz, glamour
and the action of casino
gambl=ng can be numbing to
the senses. There are no
clocks on the walls of the At-
lantic City casinos for a rea-
door with gambling when it
goes unmanaged. Ask the
year-around residents of At-
lantic City, the people who
grew up there, if they've
been happy with gambling
as a solution to their city's
problems.
Why is this a "Jewish is-
sue?" It's an issue for all of
w
'
7'.
Acally radio talk shows
I d print ' media have ex-
ined
the possibility of
,
ino gambling for Detroit.
Ttnbling here is looked at
a last chance to save a
, It is, indeed, a gamble in
'elf. Detroit would have to
something that it hasn't
son. But here in Detroit, the
city would have to under-
Gambling must be
done carefully, and
the citizens of
Detroit need to feel
and see growth as
the benefit.
stand exactly the time of
day.
Detroit, unfortunately,
would be a feeding ground
for the type of crime and de-
cay that comes through the
us. Jews talk fondly about
their memories, about their
neighborhoods, Dexter-
Davison, Central High and
Mumford. If gambling is the
last chance to help improve
or restore a bond, then it
must be done carefully; and
the citizens of Detroit need
to feel and see growth from
the benefits.
For Jewish youth, Detroit
is Southfield, Oak Park,
West Bloomfield, Farming-
ton Hills and other subur-
ban areas. It would be nice
to be proud of a city where
so many of our parents and
grandparents invested their
youth and their memories. ❑
Here's a dilem-
ma facing Jewish
organizations
these days: what
position to take
on the appoint-
., ment of Lam
Guinier, Presi-
dent Clinton's
nominee to head
the civil rights division of the
Justice Department.
Ms. Guinier has been criti-
cized for advocating that new
methods be devised to provide
minority voters with more clout
in elections. Some critics have
labeled her a "quota queen,"
seeking to empower minorities
at the expense of the democra-
tic process.
But to make matters com-
plicated, Ms. Guinier is a close
personal friend of President and
Mrs. Clinton, who are actively
seeking support for her nomi-
nation.
So while a number of Jewish
organizations are opposed to
the Guinier appointment, they
don't want to offend the Clin-
tons.
The Jewish organizational
strategy appears to be to oppose
the nomination, but not make
it a Jewish issue. So the Jewish
groups are encouraging other
religious, legal and human
rights organizations to take the
lead in opposing the nomina-
tion.
The American Jewish Com-
mittee, American Jewish Con-
gress and Anti-Defamation
League recently broke with the
NAACP and others in declining
to endorse Ms. Guinier at a
Leadership Conference of Civ-
il Rights.
It might be more popular in
the Jewish community for these
Jewish groups to come out front
and square against Ms.
Guinier, but it's more effective
— and politically prudent — for
them to work behind the scenes
in building broad coalitions to
achieve the same goals.
Similarly, when Nelson Man-
dela came to New York a few
years ago as the guest of May-
or David Dinkins, Jewish
groups faced a tough choice.
They knew that the South
African leader had made a
number of statements critical
of Israel and supportive of the
Palestinian cause; they also
knew that he was a personal
hero to the New York mayor.
The Jewish groups opted to
downplay their opposition to
Mr. Mandela and focus their at-
tention on a number of private,
and productive, meetings with
representatives of the African
National Congress.
Anyone looking for ego grat-
ification would pass up a job as
an official of a Jewish com-
munity relations council or
national Jewish defense
agency. These people do their
best work out of the limelight,
and because of that, some of
us tend to not give them
enough credit for their effec-
tiveness in putting out racial,
political, ethnic and religious
fires in the community.
In recent months, a num-
ber of Jewish organizations,
on a local and national lev-
el, were successful in sup-
porting the passage of the
Religious Freedom Restora-
tion Act in Congress. The Act,
passed unanimously in the
House of Representatives last
week and soon to be taken up
in the Senate, would overturn
a 1990 Supreme Court ruling
which struck down the "corn-
More often than
not the greater
good is achieved
by those working
behind the scenes
rather than in
front of the
cameras.
pelling interest" standard
and allowed states to bar re-
ligious practices.
Much of the quiet diplo-
macy involved convincing the
Catholic Church not to op-
pose the legislation on the
grounds that it would foster
abortions.
Such work is significant,
but does not make headlines,
and the Jewish groups prefer
it that way. They feel that
once they take a public stand
on a controversial issue, they
force the opposition to go pub-
lic as well, diminishing the
chances for working out com-
promises.
Sometimes, of course, the
issues do become public and
sometimes the organizations
take the heat.
In Maryland last year, the
Jewish community was faced
with a difficult political sit-
uation. Redistricting was a
legal necessity and any way
you looked at it, the Jewish
neighborhoods were going to
get carved up. The governor
turned to the Baltimore Jew-
ish Council to help him make
his decision. The council tried
to effect a reasonable corn-
promise among the Jewish
delegates, and made some
enemies along the way. But
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