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August 17, 2001/Av 28, 5761, Vol. 53, No.45
Seeking common groundEditorialAmerican blacks and American Jews have found new reason to work together, as U.S. political leaders prepare for the U.N. World Conference Against Racism, which begins Aug. 31 in Durban, South Africa (see story, page 28). If the ties that bound the two groups during the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-20th century have loosened in recent years, there now is potential for strengthening them.Currently, U.S. black and Jewish activists, including members of Congress, are wrestling with two issues expected to be on the table at Durban. At the top of the Jewish agenda is repelling an Arab-led, anti-Israel effort to resuscitate a declaration equating Zionism with racism. While efforts have begun to temper such inflammatory misinformation, some Jews are urging a boycott of the international gathering in protest. More realistic leaders are both urging the Bush administration to exert pressure to thwart the Zionism-is-Racism statement and seeking an alliance with black leaders, for whom "racism" especially resonates. For their part, some American blacks see the Durban conference as a chance to raise the issue of reparations for the years of state-sanctioned slavery they endured in our nation's first century. They look to the Jewish community's recent success in gaining symbolic "payment" for survivors of the Holocaust for their sacrifice and anguish. Raising the issue at the Durban meeting would present two problems. First, financial compensation for slavery has yet to be considered in the U.S. Congress, where the matter belongs. Second, and sadly, neither saying "I'm sorry" nor setting up a fund for victims or their descendents can begin to redress the crimes committed by human against human. This is true for American blacks just as it is for European Jews. How much better it would be for U.S. blacks and Jews to seek common ground to make our world and our nation healthier and safer for our children: joining hands in lobbying for better schools, access to medical care, cleaner air, new gun control laws and an end to future wars. |
