Page 5 Portland Observer JUNE 15,1989
Note: “ This article is reprinted from
the May 1989 issue of the ADL Bul
letin, national publication of the Anti-
Defamation League of B’nai B’rith.”
Healing the
Wounds
“ Whatever divides blacks
and Jews pales into insig
nificance
compared to what unites
them’’
by Donald R. Mintz and Leonard
Zakim
Donald R. Mintz of New Orleans
is chairman of ADL’s national
Civil Rights Committee. Leonard
Zakim is director of the League’s
New England regional office.
Both participated in the confer
ence about which they write.
Something remarkable occurred
at a two-day conference on black-
Jewish relations recently at Dillard
University in New Orleans.
For as long as most civil rights ob
servers could remember, no major
predominantly black institution had
initiated and sponsored a conference
on the subject. Constructive, sharp
and candid dialogue marked the ses
sions. People listened and learned.
The conference was the brainchild
of Dr. Samuel Dubois Cook, Dillard
University’s president, whose con
cern for reviving the black-Jewish
coalition grew out of a mission for
black college presidents to Israel,
sponsored by the Anti-Defamation
League (ADL Bulletin, November
1988: “ Black-Jewish Relations-The
View From Israel” ).
Dr. Cook succinctly explained his
purpose in organizing the colloquium
to some 150 participants who came
from Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cleve
land, New York and New Orleans.
“ Strengthening the black-Jewish
alliance,” he said, “ could serve as
an urgent moral antidote to some of
the critical social ills of our nation.
Whatever divides blacks and Jews
pales into insignificance compared
to what unites them.”
The recent election of former Ku
Klux Kian leader David Duke to a
seal in the Louisiana State Legisla
ture cast a shadow over the confer
ence. (An account of Duke’s cam
paign appears elsewhere in this is
sue.) The alarming growth of vio
lence among ever-increasing neo-Nazi
Skinhead groups added to the con
viction that positive action was needed.
No one put it better than John E.
Jacob, national president of the Na
tional Urban League, who said,
“ Energies need to be devoted to a
new era of cooperation.”
Two recurrent themes ran through
the sessions. One emphasized a more
realistic view of the black-Jewish al
liance, rather than nostalgia for the
“ good old days” of the civil rights
era. The other was a repeated call for
a new mature approach that tolerates
neither black anti-Semitism nor Jewish
racism, that recognizes key differ
ences in the agenda of each group
and searches for practical ways to
improve future relations.
It was plain that this meeting was
not an attempt to pass over long-
existing differences nor did it at
tempt to ignore such thorny issues as
“ Hymietown,” the battle over quo
tas and the anti-Semitism of Louis
Farrakhan. What it did do was pro
vide a balanced program highlight
ing the issues that unite blacks and
Jews as well as those that threaten to
rupture the coalition.
There was open and frank discus
sion on both sides. Jews questioned
why black leaders had failed to quickly
respond to the Cokely controversy in
Chicago when mayoral aide Steve
Cokely was fired after his record of
hard-core paranoid anti-Semitism
became public. The conflict threat
ened to polarize already strained black-
Jewish relations in the city (ADL
Bulletin, October 1988: “ The Cokely
Affair and Its Aftermath” ). Blacks
voiced their frustration over Jewish
objections to quotas, charging that
opposition placed unnecessary ob
stacles in the way of black progress.
The presence of prominent lead
ers from the black community such
as Dr. Kenneth B. Clark, New York
psychologist and educator, the Rev.
Joseph E. Lowery, head of the South
ern Christian Leadership Conference,
and Mr. Jacob testified to the fact
that the faltering coalition is not a
concern only of Jews, as it is often
portrayed.
In his address, Rev. Lowery her
alded the relationship between the
two communities in the past. He
strongly rejected the anti-Semitism
of Louis Farrakhan, leader of the
Nation of Islam, stating clearly: * * He
doesn’t speak for me.”
Interestingly, that comment pro
voked no mention in the extensive
media coverage given the confer
ence.
Critical statem ents-which re
ceived the major headlines in the
p re ss- came from Dr. Clark, who at
tempted to dismiss any black re
sponsibility for fighting anti-Semi
tism. His words, “ Blacks are power
less to act on their anti-Sem itism -if,
in fact, it exists,” were widely quoted
in the media. He went on to criticize
the conference for being * ‘one-sided
and putting blacks on the defensive.”
Although his remarks did not find
resonance among the other black
speakers, some participants cautioned
that the issue lies at the root of the
black community’s failure to com
prehend Jewish concerns about anti-
Semitism. Compounding the misun
derstanding is the mistaken belief of
some blacks that Jew s- as w hites-
are immune to persecution and that
economic affluence somehow shields
Jews from discrimination and big
otry.
The Jewish participants pointed
out that “ Jews need allies, too.’ ’ One
speaker declared that accepting re
sponsibility for dealing with anti-
Semitism is critical if the alliance is
to thrive.
“ Why,” another asked, “ do blacks
persistently cast Israel as a supporter
of South Africa while maintaining
silence about Arab oil support of the
same country?”
Calls were also voiced for col
laboration on affirmative action, which
has long had the support of ADL and
other Jewish groups who remain
opposed to quotas. There was discus
sion about the recent Supreme Court
decision in City of Richmond v. J. A.
Croson Co., which ruled that the Vir
ginia city’s 30 percent minority set-
aside program violated the 14th
Amendment's equal protection clause.
Proposals for new models of black-
Jewish cooperation offered opportu
nities for rhetoric to be replaced by
action. One example was support of
“ parcel to parcel” linkage programs
in which real estate development is
lied to improving housing and job
opportunities in minority and low
income neighborhoods. Other sug
gestions included increased course
offerings on subjects of black and
Jewish concerns at colleges where
both groups are heavily represented
and joint action against Japan’s boy
cott of Israel and its trade relation
ship with Africa.
The media coverage o f the con
ference illustrated another factor
straining the relationship between
blacks and Jews. Most reporters chose
to highlight the tensions that did arise
but, in actuality, failed to dominate
the meetings.
As the conference concluded, many
in the frequently applauding audi
ence felt a sense of renewal. There
were few illusions that the road ahead
would be easy but realistic criteria
for reenergizing the coalition were
articulated.
Participants recognized that to suc
cessfully accomplish these goals
requires two-way cooperation. This
conference-held on the campus of
one o f America’s oldest and most re
spected predominantly black institu
tions of learning-was surely a step in
the right direction.
’Perspective
BLACK INTER
ACTION IN
EUROPE
McKinley Burl
In the past months I have detailed
many of the magnificent contribu
tions of African and African-Ameri
cans to European and world culture
as though they were independent
(though important) achievements.
Nothing could be further from the
truth than to conclude that these in
tellectual accomplishment wereone-
time aberations from an alleged Black
norm of mediocrity.
These African accomplishments
did not stand alone but were seminal,
inspiring and overlapping, sparking
fundamental social and cultural
movements which brought about radi
cal change. For instance, the death of
Black poet Alexander Pushkin (1837)
did not mark the end of the African
dynasty in Russia fathered by Abra
ham Hannibal, engineer, general, and
Diplomat. Rather, we see that this
prolific architect of social change
used “ The passionate humanity of
his prose and poetry” to further part
the curtains of a European stage for a
succession of Black giants who were
allowed to display a genius stifled or
prohibited in America.
Ira Frederick Aldridge (1807-
1867): This highly acclaim ed
Shakespearan actor was educated at
the African Free School in New York,
but his meteoric dramatic career was
launched at the Royalty Theatre of
London when he appeared in the role
of Othello in 1826. His abilities and
versatility led to such leading roles
as King Lear, Shylock.Oroonoka,
Mungo, and others, played through
out Europe, But it was in Russia that
the dramatic lifelines of two great
interpreters of the human existence
met and intertwined.
Aldridge, riding the tide of lib
eration philosophy authored by
Pushkin, found extraordinary success
in Russia, receiving the highest of
honors and monetary awards. We
have it from Clarence L. Holte (p.271-
273, Journal of African Civilization,
1985): “ In December 1857 Czar
Alexander II published a declaration
of intent for abolition of serfdom
(Sharecroppers). On February 19,1861
the declaration was implemented and
some 22.5 million serfs were Freed.
Aldridge arrived in Russia in the
midst o f this excitement and, since
he, as a Blackm an, was a symbol of
liberation from slavery, the serfs
and radical intelligentsia were eager
to support him .”
The pen, the soul and the artistry
of two Blacks had mightily changed
the destiny o f a continent for centu
ries to come. Sergei Durylin tells us,
“ The appearance of Aldridge was
extraordinarily timely; the Russian
actors awaited such a one in order to
learn from him “ how to master their
a rt, and the Russian spectators in
order to delve into the mighty feel
ings and thoughts of Shakespeare.”
There is even more of a continuity
of African presence than appears at
first blush here. When we speak of
Shakespeares Othello here we need
to remember that the famous Bard
almost literally took the theme for
his play from the writings and life ex
perience of Leo Africanus, the great
African historian and geographers.
The parallels between the lives of
Africanus and that of the character
Othello go far beyond the fact that
each had been an African slave. There
is in each an articulated ethos and
critique, bitter in nature where it deals
with the encounter between the trust
ing African and his Christian Euro
pean enslaver.
Readers will remember that I have
previously cited the influence of the
ancient African playwright and poet
T erran ce upon all the principal Eu
ropean dramatists. And that his texts
were a major element of the curricu
lum in the schools in Shakespeare’s
days (as well as Molière). Those
African footsteps echo endlessly, don’t
they?
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