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T he P ortland O bserver « N ovember 15, 1995
P age A7
Black, Jews And Gentiles: Part II
I la* V D
B y P rof . M c K I in M ley
B ■ i I n rt
As I com m ented at the close
of last w eek’s article, the rela­
tionships between diverse cultures
often can grow “rancorous - to
close for co m fo rt.” You will note
that I have added “ B lacks” to the
title, perhaps, is a recognition of
the real nature o f this dialogue.
Then, too, there was the reader
who said , “ I d o n ’t care what
W ebster says. There w asn’t any
.category 'G e n tile ’ on my Civil
Service ap p licatio n .”
“Too close for com fort" is e x ­
actly how I found those situations
o f em ploym ent as a school vaca­
tio n , liv e-in em ployee in the
households o f both Jews and non-
Jews. After two summers of this
type of late-teenage employm ent
I opted for the less-condescend­
ing relationships of railroad con­
struction gangs. But there is c e r­
tainly som ething to be said for
those sam e-dom icile’ living ar-
rangem ents when it comes down
to really knowing and understand­
ing people o f another culture.
It is more than a matter of
being exposed to unguarded c o n ­
versations or special confidences
to be hidden from some m istrusted
member of the family -- or even
m arveling at some of the esoteric
sexual behaviors of the rich and
alm ost famous, or retrieving in ­
ebriated blondes from swimming
pools. But what can be most un­
settling are some of the more b it­
ter, unkind and even virulent opin­
ions that Jew and Gentile may
have of each other. Not all by any
means but a sufficient number to
provoke the com m ent that many
real human em otions are masked
by a facade o f civility, gentility
and urbanity. Especially among
the wealthy middle class, while
the poor are more honest.
No such civility was found in
the black or white urban ghettos
H 7fo
of pre-w orld War II A m erica (at
the time my family lived in a mixed
neighborhood of Blacks, Jews,
Irish , Ita lia n s and G erm an s).
L ip sch itz's ’(confectionery and
Kosher D elicatessen' was the so­
cial center for much of the neigh­
borhood and the only place I knew
of in the entire city of St. Louis in
the 1930’s where a black could sit
at the soda fountain and sip sodas
(N. Bayard Avenue).
This state of affairs brought
out the very worst in the youth of
the non-Jew ish European cultural
groups. From theirend of the Soda
fountain or their group of check­
ered oil cloth table would come
the m um bled ra cial e p ith e ts ,
“nigger-serving kikes, Jew bas­
tards own everything now th ey ’re
wiping o u rface in it .’’This would
happen alm ost every day until the
owner ushered them out. But the
youth were simply reflecting the
adult conversations of their home
environm ent I was the only black service with Jewish families.
kid in a 30 square block area (at
There was both truth and folklore
ages 5 through 12) and the only in the consensus that The Jewish em­
possible playm ates in the neigh­ ployer will give you a position and
borhood were four brothers of an authority that ol whitey’ never will.”
“Emaus” family, W illie, Sol, Leon As I wrote several months ago, this is
and Eli. I even tagged along to the now interpreted as follows: "Some
basem ent o f the con fectio n ery groups will hire, promote and leach
when the Rabbi came to kill the blacks sophisticated commercial sys­
chickens. Though 1 had toys g a­ tems because they know perfectly well
lore the children of the non-Jew ­ that, unlike whites, they can never be
ish European groups were not al­ competitors - can't get Commercial
lowed to come near us -- on pain bank loans, competitive leaseholds, etc.
of being beaten within an inch of
their lives.
So in a pattern to continue for de­
cades, the diverse cultural groups hurled
insults (and sometimes rocks) back and
lorth across the street. The school system
was absolutely segregated and
from my black sch o o lm ates I
gained yet another viewpoint of
Jewish people. Many of their par­
ents worked for Jewish merchants,
c lo th in g m a n u fa c tu re rs and
w holesalers or were in dom estic
ended up in Attica, where he contin­
ued his political activities and his
writing.
While in prison, Washington
founded and edited The Auburn Col­
lective, an inmate produced newspa­
per which merited more than 25 na­
tional awards for journalistic excel­
lence, and was quickly named one of
the top three prison publications in
the U S. Washington also wrote a
number of articles critical of guards,
wardens and prison life for newspa­
pers outside of prison including the
New York times Op-Ed page. Wash­
ington’s writing, which challenged
the establishment and incurred the
wrath of wardens and guards, was
called “venom” by prison officials.
Singled out as a subversive, he was
moved from Auburn to Attica prison
and his typewriter and writing were
confiscated for two years. Washing­
ton sued prison officials and he was
awarded $5,000 in damages for the
typewriter and manuscripts that were
destroyed.
While in Attica, Washington
filed and won a historic First Amend­
ment lawsuit against prison censor-
Jerome Washington
ship and in defense of the “Right to
Write.” He also orchestrated the suc­
cessful campaign to have New York
State prison policy changed to allow
prisoners free access to books, mag­
azines and other reading material. In
all, Washington filed six lawsuits
while in prison concerning issues
ranging from First Amendments
rights to practicing his religion. Bud­
dhism. He won all six cases.
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In 1986, he also became the
first prisoner to receive a fellow­
ship in the arts from the New York
Foundation for the Arts for his play
The Boys in Cellblock “C,” which
has since been produced by stage
companies across the company. In
all he has written four plays, two
novels and a film script, in addition
to several books of poetry - most
while incarcerated. His works in­
clude One Crow, One Buddha
(l 989), A Bright Spot in the Yard
(19 8 1), and Notes From a Prison
Journal ( 1979). In 1995 he received
the Western States Arts Federation
Book Award for Creative Nonfic­
tion for Iron House.
Washington is currently a writ­
ing workshop instructor for Poets
& Writers, Inc. and Alternative Lit­
erary Programs, he is a member of
the PEN American Center’s Prison
Writing Committee, and is on the
Board of Directors of the Coalition
for the Creative Arts and the Cen­
tral Committee for Conscientious
Objectors (Western Region). He
lives on the Mendocino Coast of
California.
M ztW M
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Saturday, December 9, 1995
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o n L a y - / A - W a y ite m s
At approximately 7 :15 on No­
vember 12, 1995, an inmate in the
process o f being transferred from
the Detention Center to the Court­
house Jail fled from custody as the
transport van was being unloaded.
The inmate is identified as Juan
Mercadorivera, DOB 11/22/73,
221 N. Hardcastle, Woodburn,OR
Mercadorivera was captured
underneath the Morrison Bridge
approximately one half hour after
he ran from the transport van. He
was still handcuffed when appre­
hended by Portland Police.
Vessels
W a s h in g to n •
Jerom e W ashington is an
award-winning writer, journalist,
ed itor, teacher and a devout
buddhist He served as a medic in
; Vietnam from I960 to 1962. After
returning to the United States he
earned a Master’s degree in Jour­
nalism from Columbia University.
He later worked with Martin Luther
King, Jr. during the Civil Rights
Movement and helped to organize
the first group of veterans opposed
to the war in Southeast Asia. Known
as the first black Yippie, he, along
with Abbie Hoffman, Paul Krassner,
Phil Ochs, and Ed Sanders, brought
the Yippies into political promi­
nence by disturbing the Democratic
National Convention in 1968.
In 1971, Washington was
charged with shooting one man and
wounding another at an unlicensed
after-hours club in Manhattan’s
Bowery. He was jailed for charges
of murder and attempted murder,
that were ultimately dropped six­
teen years later. Imprisoned from
1972 to 1989, Washington was in­
carcerated in a number ofNew York
State prisons, until he ultimately
Inmate Escapes
During Transfer
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