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Dry Bones
The Need For Audacious Faith
M
ore than 35 years ago, the Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. spoke movingly
of his dreams for a society free of the
terrible curse of racism.
His words captured the spirit of black Americans,
of course, but they also resonated passionately in the
hearts and minds of Jewish Americans. Jews knew
what it meant to escape slavery — and to be excluded
from the majority society. They poured their energies,
and sometimes their lives, into his crusade for an
integrated country, one where children would, in
King's memorable words, "not be judged by the color
of their skin, but by the content of their character."
It looked like the start of a beautiful friendship.
But something happened.
As the overt anti-Semitism of earlier
decades simply died away, Jews in America
gained almost total acceptance at every
level. While most still sympathized with the aspira-
tions of black Americans, and many continued to
work actively at social causes intended to help
blacks move more fully into the mainstream, Jewish
life found new interests.
As soon as they could afford to, American Jews
left the cities and the city schools. They began to
pay more attention to the Holocaust, for example,
and to worry about intermarriage — the most obvi-
ous fruit of their acceptance in the mainstream.
Ironically, after winning exactly what King dreamt
of, many wrapped themselves in a cocoon of "Jewish
identity" causes.
The path was different for African Americans, who
mostly remained trapped in ever-weakening and
increasingly segregated city neighborhoods. The laws
protected them from overt discrimination, but
couldn't overcome the de facto geographic separation.
And intellectually, many blacks sought, and got dis-
tance from, the dominant white culture. As they
struggled to build a history of themselves that
they would be proud to tell their children,
many turned away from personal relationships
with Jews. Nor did it help that they were often
still faced with dealing with massive Jewish
intellectual and economic success.
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Striving To Overcome
Almost inevitably, the hand-in-hand bonds of
the civil rights movement were broken. In
place of Dr. King, black America found move-
ment leaders like Al Sharpton or, more ven-
omously, Louis Farrakhan. While Jews point
tocIsrael's treatment of ohm from
Ethiopia as a success, black leaders
say it shows a Jewish racism they
say is repeated in this country.
Simultaneously, many Jewish Americans
resent what they see as an irresponsible play-
ing of the race card by blacks to explain away
what are really failures of black leadership.
Having ceased to be victims, American Jews
speak dismissively of a black embrace of "vic-
timhood," mirroring the Palestinians' unwill-
ingness to leave their past behind and doom-
ing another generation of blacks to fall
behind the rest of the country in terms of
intellectual and economic performance.
Many Jews who would describe themselves as
liberal humanists are angry about the anti-
Semitism that lurks not far below the surface in
many African-American homes.
It is not the role of a Jewish publication to tell
black Americans how they might want to relate to
Jewish America in the 21st century. We think that a
lot of Jews still stand ready to help a responsible
leadership address the real problems of black family
-instability, of poverty and crime and violence.
And before Jews surrender to despondence
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about black America, they would do well to con-
sider Dr. King's words when he accepted the
Nobel Prize in 1964:
"I accept this award with an abiding faith in
America and an audacious faith in the future of
mankind. I refuse to accept despair as the final
response to the ambiguities of history.
And, Dr. King concluded, "I still believe that we
shall overcome." ❑
33
Saving Argentina
rgentina, including the Jewish popula-
tion of more than 300,000, is going
through one of the most horrific eco-
nomic situations.
For the past four years, this jewel of South
America has suffered through a difficult recession
and 20 percent unemployment fueled by the
devaluation of the Brazilian currency, a failed
monetary policy and lack of exports and foreign
investments. Today, 40 percent of the Jews of
Argentina are below the poverty line with only
Israel continuing to help.
This is a country of immigrants more akin to
the United States than any other Latin American
A
David C. Sloan is a Huntington Woods resident. His
e-mail address is bernardson@ad com
body else, it is not our concern. While we
country. Last summer, we visited our fami-
prepare to spend billions to help
ly in Argentina, stayed in their homes, lis-
Afghanistan enter the 20th century, our
tened to stories of their plight and under-
policy is to let Argentina languish.
stood the potential of that great land.
To protect the Jewish people of
Argentina in the 1920s came to the aid
Argentina, we must wake up the govern-
of the Jews of Poland. When the United
ment. President George W. Bush and
States slammed its doors to the refugees,
Treasury
Secretary Paul O'Neill must put
Argentina welcomed them. When the
together a task force of our best econo-
United States put together the Gulf War
DAVID C.
mists and trade officials. Set up a free
coalition, Argentina participated. When
SLOAN
trade agreement so that Argentina's goods
the United States was attacked in
Community
and agricultural products can be imported
September, Argentina declared support
Views
to this country. Empower U.S. companies
immediately.
with incentives for investments in
The United States and the International
Argentina.
Monetary Fund, whose withholding of loans pre-
When we help Argentina, we are helping the
cipitated the current political crisis, have declared
Jewish people. Fl
that since Argentina's problems do not affect any-
t a
1/18
2002
23