Jack Salzman, Cornel West Struggles in the Promised

112 // JONATHAN KAUFMAN
as well as businessmen, housewives, and homeowners, have been confronted for
the first time with demands from Negro organizations that, they find, cannot
serve as the basis of a common effort." 8 as well as businessmen, housewives, and homeowners, have been confronted for
the first time with demands from Negro organizations that, they find, cannot
serve as the basis of a common effort." It took just a few years for Glazer to turn
out to be prophetic.
8 It took just a few years for Glazer to turn
out to be prophetic.
//
The Ocean Hill-Brownsville school district in New York was the first place the
conflict between Blacks and Jews erupted into open hostility. 9 The Ocean Hill-Brownsville school district in New York was the first place the
conflict between Blacks and Jews erupted into open hostility. Located in a blighted
section of Brooklyn, Ocean Hill-Brownsville epitomized the failure of New
York to educate its Black students. In 1966, standardized reading tests showed
Black twelve-year-olds reading two years behind white twelve-year-olds. Only 8
percent of New York's teachers were Black. There were no Black high school principals,
and only a handful of Black school administrators. Back in 1954, a few
weeks after the Supreme Court outlawed school segregation, Kenneth Clark, the
NAACP Legal Defense Fund's star witness, had charged that New York's schools
were segregated, with all-Black schools having fewer experienced teachers and
Black students crammed into older, poorly maintained buildings. Over the next
ten years, city officials proposed plan after plan to integrate the schools.
Conditions for Black students just got worse.
In the south, Blacks hobbled by poor schooling knew where the problem
lay — with a segregated school system and white politicians and administrators
who refused to give Black schools sufficient money, supplies, and books. In New
York the problem was much the same, but the face of the enemy was Jewish. New
York's public schools were both the historic avenue of success for the city's Jews
as well as employer to a significant part of the Jewish middle class. Up through
the 1940s, New York's school bureaucracy and classrooms had been run mostly by
Irish teachers and supervisors. Following the Second World War, however, Jews
graduating from the public city colleges had poured into the system, valuing its
job security and good benefits. By 1967 approximately two-thirds of New York's
teachers, supervisors, and principals were Jewish. In a city where over half the students
were Black or Hispanic, the school teaching staffs and administrators were
overwhelmingly white and Jewish. Many of these Jews were liberal, indeed many
had supported civil rights. But in the battle of Blacks and Jews the two sides
found themselves opposed.
The battle over Ocean Hill-Brownsville began when city officials, responding
to Black demands for better education, decided in 1967 to "decentralize" the
schools. The city Board of Education announced plans to establish community
boards made up of local parents and residents. These boards presumably would
give Black and Hispanic parents more influence over the education of their children.
Ocean Hill— Brownsville was to be the first model.
From the very start, the seeds of conflict were evident in the different words
the two sides used to describe the educational experiment. The largely Jewish
9 Located in a blighted
section of Brooklyn, Ocean Hill-Brownsville epitomized the failure of New
York to educate its Black students. In 1966, standardized reading tests showed
Black twelve-year-olds reading two years behind white twelve-year-olds. Only 8
percent of New York's teachers were Black. There were no Black high school principals,
and only a handful of Black school administrators. Back in 1954, a few
weeks after the Supreme Court outlawed school segregation, Kenneth Clark, the
NAACP Legal Defense Fund's star witness, had charged that New York's schools
were segregated, with all-Black schools having fewer experienced teachers and
Black students crammed into older, poorly maintained buildings. Over the next
ten years, city officials proposed plan after plan to integrate the schools.
Conditions for Black students just got worse.
In the south, Blacks hobbled by poor schooling knew where the problem
lay—with a segregated school system and white politicians and administrators
who refused to give Black schools sufficient money, supplies, and books. In New
York the problem was much the same, but the face of the enemy was Jewish. New
York's public schools were both the historic avenue of success for the city's Jews
as well as employer to a significant part of the Jewish middle class. Up through
the 1940s, New York's school bureaucracy and classrooms had been run mostly by
Irish teachers and supervisors. Following the Second World War, however, Jews
graduating from the public city colleges had poured into the system, valuing its
job security and good benefits. By 1967 approximately two-thirds of New York's
teachers, supervisors, and principals were Jewish. In a city where over half the students
were Black or Hispanic, the school teaching staffs and administrators were
overwhelmingly white and Jewish. Many of these Jews were liberal, indeed many
had supported civil rights. But in the battle of Blacks and Jews the two sides
found themselves opposed.
The battle over Ocean Hill-Brownsville began when city officials, responding
to Black demands for better education, decided in 1967 to "decentralize" the
schools. The city Board of Education announced plans to establish community
boards made up of local parents and residents. These boards presumably would
give Black and Hispanic parents more influence over the education of their children.
Ocean Hill—Brownsville was to be the first model.
From the very start, the seeds of conflict were evident in the different words
the two sides used to describe the educational experiment. The largely Jewish