N

Where's
Our Fire?

ALEXANDRA J. WALL

SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

How many African-American
churches need to be razed to the
ground before we — as Jews and
as Americans — mobilize and do
something?
The statistics are staggering;
in the South — the very heart of
the civil rights movement —
more than 30 black houses of
worship have been destroyed by
fire.
Just imagine: What if the ar-
sonists' targets had been syna-
gogues? After all, the message —
"your kind is not wanted here"
— could just as easily be direct-
ed toward us.
To fully comprehend the im-
pact, imagine your synagogue or
temple reduced to a wooden
skeleton.
Too horrible to contemplate?
Consider the pain and rage the
southern African-American com-
munity must be experiencing,
while slowly, slowly, Congress
begins a federal investigation,
some two or three years after the
first case of suspected arson.
Envision the outcry, the de-
mand for justice, the accusations
of anti-Semitism we'd be direct-

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A blazing match
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ing toward the government for
not acting sooner. Community
spokespeople would be appear-
ing on the evening news, deem-
ing one of these attacks another
Kristallnacht. Visualize the
newspaper offices drowning in
faxes from Jewish organizations,
full of condemnation and calling
for action.
Jewish organizations are usu-
ally at the forefront against hate
crimes, and their publicity ma-
chines ratchet up to high gear to
keep us apprised of their efforts.
But on this issue, our fax ma-
chines have remained conspicu-
ously idle (except for a fax from
the Christian Coalition).
From Jewish organizations,
we have received only two.
One of our reporters placed a
call to the Southern Shofar, in
Birmingham, Ala., requesting an
article about southern Jews ral-
lying in solidarity with the
African-American community.
The call yielded nothing.
"We haven't done a story on
the Jewish community's reaction
because there really hasn't been
much of one," a staff member of
the Shofar said.
Not to make light of the ten-
sions of Crown Heights or the

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