Black-Jewish Relations

...ANDREW YOUNG, THEPLOAND Black-Jewish Relations BAYARD RUSTIN ANYONE possessing even the slightest bit of political per-ceptiveness knows full well thai relations between blacks and Jews have become inueasingly slraincd during the last 15 years Now, in the wake ol all the idlhci ugly rhetoric and oul-nghl loolishness following the icsigna-honol Andicw Young as U S Ambassador to the United Nations, tensions between blacks and Jews have been further aggravated What is perhaps worse, these tensions have been inflamed needlessly at a time when the state of both domestic and international politics is highly volatile To begin with, the racial aspect of the whole Young affair has been vastly overplayed Contrary to what many blacks and journalists choose to believe, Andy Young was not a vicitm of racism on the part of the Carter Administration, the Israelis, or the American Jewish community Young resigned because—as has been true of many other diplomats and public officials before him—he reached the point where his own personal beliefs conflicted radically with the policies of his government The fact that the Ambassador happens to have black skin should have been an irrelevant consideration But when Young submitted his resignation, the cries of "foul" began immediately We heard charges that he was sacrificed to appease American lewish power, that the Israeli government spied on him and engineered the entne incident, that the Cartel Administration was telling him what he could and could not do because he was a stupid black man incapable of acting on his own All these claims, of course, had no substance Yet many people eagerly and thoughtlessly accepted them as gospel truth That the Young affair so quickly and almost inexorably evolved into an exceptionally unpleasant black-Jewish conflict is for me a clear indication of how the divisions between the two groups have significantly widened I say this because it seemed that some black people, including several highly respected leaders, welcomed the opportunity to vent their long repressed anger, and to press their grievances As initial outbursts against "Jewish arrogance" turned into warm—and unprecedented—embraces of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), however, the situation also acquired new political and moral significance The chrome \et usually ciMlized debates between blacks and lews about B\~i\ri> Rtsiis (/ past NL ton-tiibutoi, is piesidenl ol the \ Philip Randolph InMinile and a mem her ol the Blaik leaden/up I oium quotas and a number of oiher domestic issues gave way to a hfe-and-death dispute over American policy in the Middle East—for the shape and direction of that policy has a very real bearing on Israel's ability to survive as a nation With this far-reaching change in the scope of the overall black-Jewish encounter, the stakes have been raised enormously To more fully understand the present situation, it is useful to examine the somewhat mercurial relationship between blacks and Jews dating back for nearly a century Until fairly recent times, both groups had similar characteristics and problems Both were frequently poor, both faced overt discrimination in a society dominated by white Protestants, both were more or less compelled to live in ghettos, and both had a strong interest in supporting political leaders, almost all of them Democrats, who promised an expansion of social welfare services In the light of these common concerns and needs, it was not surprising to find many Jews involved in the civil rights movement, especially in the '50s and '60s Jews gave generously of their money, time and talent in ihe struggle against segregation Some, like Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwer-ner, actually gave their lives But even as Jews joined the picket lines and marches, there were blacks, especially the urban poor, who regarded them with deep distrust and hostility In the eyes of black consumers, Jews seemed to control most of the local groceries, pharmacies, corner stores, and even the schools Being the innocent front-line troops of the American economic system, lower-middle-class Jews frequently bore the brunt of black rage during urban riots They were, by virtue of their presence in the black community, the easiest and most vulnerable targets Despite such black-Jewish confrontations at the street level, though, at the leadership level relations remained good, indeed cordial Tensions did not start to emerge until the late '60s, when the New Deal consensus began to collapse under the weight of many unfulfilled expectations and the Democratic majority, so ably reinvigorated by Lyndon Johnson in 1964, began to splinter over the Vietnam War In addition, the '60s saw an astomshing growth m the influence of the New Left and other extreme political ideologies This prompted some elements of the civil rights movement—especially younger activists—to adopt the strident slogans and ideology of black nationalism As part of their reorientation, so-called Black Power figures began to stress what they saw as the common struggle of all the world's oppressed people In naively internationalizing the struggle, black nationalists began to stress identification with any group m the world that seemed to be even vaguely Leftist or "Third World " Thus groups like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Black Panthers came to support the PLO, which cleverly used the language of liberation and democracy, as well as other groups, almost all of them aligned internationally with the Soviet Union or China Since the flamboyant black leaders of the day received an abundance of media attention—Stokely Carmichael, H Rap Brown, Huey Newton come to mind—an individual unfamiliar with the realities of black America might understandably have concluded that the attitudes of black people and civil rights leaders had changed drastically Many Jewish leaders, who firmly trusted men like A Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins and Whitney Young, began to feel uneasy—and rightly so, since the nationalists frequently and ntualistically engaged in anti-Semitic rabble-rousing of the worst sort Regular and strong disavowals of this kind of reverse racism from mainstream civil rights leaders were welcomed by Jews, but the statements did little to calm their growing fears As the '70s approached, blacks and Jews found themselves in honest disagreement regarding the nature of affirmative action Whereas the two had been firmly umted in opposing all forms of discrimination against racial and ethmc minorities, and had supported the advancement of equal opportunity, controversy developed when most black organizations as well as groups representing women, Hispan-ics and other minorities began to narrowly redefine affirmative action in terms of numerical quotas For Jews, who had painful memories of exclusion by quotas, this new emphasis of the civil rights movement was a source of serious concern Yet while Jewish organizations actively opposed quotas, they also continued to speak out forcefully—much more forcefully than virtually any other white group—in favor of school desegregation, open housing laws, and social and economic reforms long favored and needed by the black community It should be noted, too, that Jews were not alone in voicing dissent on quotas Some blacks charge that Jewish orgamzations and intellectuals precipitated the Bakke and Weber cases, but nothing could be further from the truth The Jewish attitude toward quotas mirrored the attitude of the overall white community To single out Jews as the vanguard force opposing quotas is therefore absolute nonsense Moreover, although the important debate over the nature of affirmative action continues to be a source of tension, blacks and Jews have been able to "agree to disagree " In fact, this mutual accommodation has encouraged some blacks now to hope a similar arrangement can be worked out with regard to the PLO But there are fundamental differences between the two issues For one thing, the acceptance or rejection of quotas does not threaten the very existence of either blacks or lews By contrast, the legitimization ol the PLO, a group that has as its pimcipal obicUive the destiuction of the State ol Israel, could alter the piccarious international balance and set in motion forces capable of eventually producing a catastrophe in the Middle East In such circumstances, it seems to me that no one, be they black or Jewish, should consider any type of compromise on the PLO question Unfortunately several prominent black leaders today seem to be attempting to link the question of the PLO with other underlying black-Jewish disputes Perhaps their strategy is to win concessions from Jews on the other issues by threatening to build a constituency for the PLO in the United States Yet even though this approach may initially appear rather shrewd and potentially beneficial to the black people, I believe it is tactically disastrous The arrogant demand for negotiations on what has to be a nonnegotiable item for Israel will do irreparable damage to the black community—first, by causing serious internal divisions, and second, by further weakening the liberal coalition, whose components—especially labor —will be alienated bv the slightest involvement with the PLO Furthermore, anv black relationship with the PLO, especially il it leads to the loimation ol a pro-PLO, pioArab black constituency in the United States, will become a permanent and insurmountable obstacle to the improvement of black-Jewish relations Blacks who ignore this are, quite frankly, out of touch with the basic political realities in America, and have little or no understanding of the Jewish instinct for survival To hope for continued cooperation and friendship in these circumstances strikes me as the height of wishful thinking While I fea- the result of a collapse of the black-Jewish alliance, let me stress that I think the current debate about blacks and the PLO goes far beyond mere considerations of political expediency Indeed, if blacks were to refrain from dealing with the PLO merely out of the self-serving desire to ingratiate themselves with Jews, my point would have been missed entirely The ultimate issue, I believe, is not one of tactical wisdom, but of basic morality For in acting as a catalyst for building support for the PLO, black leaders, no matter what their motivations, would be providing aid and comfort to an organization committed to racism, terrorism and authoritarianism As for the immediate question of how the severe damage done to black-Jewish relations can be repaired, in my view there is only one answer We blacks, who legitimately demand sensitivity and understanding from Jews on matters concerning black self-interest, must be willing to develop the same sort of sensitivity and understanding about Jewish concerns The fact that many of us are at present entertaining the notion of fostering some type of black-PLO friendship suggests to me that this necessary sensitivity is desperately lacking among blacks In any case, we ought now to be speaking out against the PLO—not simply to ease black-Jewish tensions, but because having won our basic rights through nonviolence and organized pressure in a Democratic nation, we have an obligation to oppose those forces in the world, like the PLO, which Haunt the political powei ol the gun and opcnlv mock the values and goals we have fought loi...