Broad Strokes

Fractures and unity competed this week at a
national Jewish lobbyists convention.

ALAN FEILER

Special to the Jewish News

Baltimore

T

endorsed the JCPA's two-year study of
black-Jewish relations. The report reaf-
firms the JCPA's support for equal
opportunities and civil rights.
The JCPA is no stranger to
exchanges such as the one at the
Mfume talk. Indeed, on Sunday, the
group's longtime top professional
announced he would leave the agency
by year's end, some insiders saying he
was pushed out due to questions over

he young man nervously
stepped up to the micro-
phone and introduced him-
self as a student at Queens
College in New York. Before.650 dele-
gates — Jewish adult and college stu-
dent activists — he delivered a scorch-
ing indictment of affirma-
tive action, calling it "legal-
ized racism" that has created
"more harm than good."
Kweisi Mfume smiled
patiently, pausing before
answering. He had been
waiting for the question, he
said, and promised not to
be defensive. "Race is still a
driving factor in this coun-
try" the president and
CEO of the National
Association for the
Advancement of Colored
People said as part of a long
answer.
But Mfume couldn't
shake off the young man's
confrontational tone and
demeanor. "You know," he
added, "we went through
more than 200 years of
legal slavery and 120 years
of Jim Crow. That was
legalized racism. So it seems
to me that 35 years of affir-
mative action should not
make people so uncomfort-
Kweisi Mfume: "What occurred in the past doesn't
able because it seeks to level
mean a hill of beans if nothing's going on now."
the playing field."
The interplay symbolized
one strain among American Jews these
his management style and promotion
days, a polity whose once generally
of JCPA's generally liberal agenda.
liberal population now wrestles with
During the conference, representa-
more nuanced approaches to issues, as
tives of 122 local and 13 national
well as a rise of Jewish conservatism.
Jewish groups hammered out a broad
The comments came at the Jewish
lobbying agenda for the year — one
Council for Public Affairs, which held
filled with deals, dissent and a democ-
its plenum in Baltimore this week in
ratic process that could be described as
joint sessions with the Hillel Spitzer
friendly, organized anarchy.
Policy Forum for college students.
Hot button issues — against public
After Mfume's remarks, delegates
funding for private schools, for a •
death penalty moratorium and favor-
Alan Feller is managing-editor of the
ing "living wage" requirements for low
Baltimore Jewish Times.
income workers — were thrashed

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