Jack Salzman, Cornel West Struggles in the Promised

166 // CHERYL GREENBERG
other hand, remained firmly rooted in the law and in economic practice. Thus
Jewish groups concerned about continued bigotry did not look to the legal or
court system for change, but rather spent increasing amounts of effort in public
relations or propaganda work: encouraging materials that highlighted tolerance
and diversity. 29 Although Jewish groups argued that these materials benefited
African Americans as well, since the message was broadly construed, racism was
in fact far less responsive to such techniques, and in any case the central problems
of racism lay in the deep structures of society rather than solely in the minds of
individuals. Institutional racism had to be tackled in very different ways. So long
as these methods included court and legislative work, Jewish groups continued to
support civil rights efforts, even though they had little impact on anti-Semitism.
When tactics turned to more direct action, most Jewish groups balked. Street
demonstrations and mass marches reminded many Jews of the demagogy and
appeal to the mob of fascists like Hitler. Although Jews themselves had employed
boycotts against German products during World War II, even boycotts now
seemed dangerously anti-democratic. 30 The more radical of these civil rights
efforts challenged the very notions of liberalism that had allowed Jews to achieve
so much in America, and this also proved threatening.
Already suspicious of mass action, Jewish groups grew increasingly uneasy as
the 1960s progressed, with SNCC's emerging criticism of the liberalism of
Kennedy, the Democratic Party, and the establishment more generally; Martin
Luther King, Jr. 's opposition to the Vietnam War and its implied criticism of the
wisdom of the power structure; the general move toward nationalism in a Black
community dispirited by white recalcitrance and liberal inaction; and a rising
sense of anti-colonial sentiment that moved many Black groups to embrace the
Palestinian cause. While Jewish youths were well represented in the ranks of
activist civil rights organizations like SNCC, their parents in the AJC, ADL, or
NCJW remained far more suspicious. When the civil rights movement moved
north, into the neighborhoods of these liberal Jews, the question of integration
took on a different tone. With concerns now couched in class rather than racial
terms, Jews fled to suburbs almost as quickly as white Christians to avoid what
they perceived as the deterioration of their schools and neighborhoods. They
pointed to riots as evidence of civil rights agendas run amok.
Suddenly, it became clear, the most basic visions of the two communities
conflicted. African Americans recognized that earlier trust in the courts, the legislature,
or the goodwill of well-meaning whites was misplaced, or at best naive.
Just laws could still be administered unjustly. One could not rely on white
administrators and employers to suddenly see the error of their ways and accept
Black people equally. Only concerted pressure compelled the changes wrought by
the civil rights movement, and only continued pressure would move the process
further. It was not enough to press white people into hiring Black workers: Black
entrepreneurial activity and economic nationalism would provide an independent
base from which to rise. Affirmative action, and numerical quotas to demonstrate