Jack Salzman, Cornel West Struggles in the Promised

300 // JEROME A. CHANES
and the local CRCs. Indeed, the communities played a major role in the debate at
the 1972 Plenum in advancing the position ultimately adopted, despite opposition
from three national bodies. n
NJCRAC's 1972 position on affirmative action was repeated more-or-less
yearly, with some variations in language, throughout the decade. The organizations
generally supported affirmative-action plans that were not explicitly racial,
such as those considering economic or social disadvantage; 16 or those designed to
weed out practices that served in fact to weed out minorities. 17 There was,
throughout, the suggestion that the organized Jewish community was a bit
uncomfortable about opposing a program that was so important to the Black
community. In 1973 NJCRAC took pains to point out that there was no proof
that race-conscious programs targeted Jews (that year's JPP somewhat paradoxically
warned against devising affirmative-action plans that would impose special
burdens on Jews).
NJCRAC's subsequent statements on affirmative action varied slightly,
reflecting both situations addressed that year and, more importantly, growing disagreement
among NJCRAC's constituent agencies. NJCRAC's positions careened
from recognition of the limited use of racial criteria, 18 to absolute opposition
to all such programs. "Goals and timetables" were considered permissible, not
as much because of what they would do, but because several agencies perceived
them as not being rigidly enforced, and hence less of a danger of degenerating
into quotas. 19
NJCRAC made an effort during the 1970s to bite the bullet with respect to
how affirmative action would implicate Black-Jewish relations, but most formulations
skirted the core issue of opposition to quotas. In response to the complaint
that opposition to quotas was dividing the Jewish and Black communities,
NJCRAC repeatedly urged initiatives that would enhance social and economic
programs to aid Blacks, such as public employment, thus obviating the need for
race-conscious affirmative-action programs to ensure minority access. This solution
was consistent with NJCRAC's long-established approach to social justice,
namely increasing government responsibility.
A forum on "Affirmative Action, Preferential Treatment, and Quotas" at the
1973 NJCRAC Plenum, a commentary to the 1972 NJCRAC position, reaffirmed
the growing consensus that quotas should be rejected, but that blanket
opposition to specific court-ordered remedies was unwise public policy.
In June 1975, NJCRAC issued a comprehensive statement that attempted to
bridge gaps and articulate its consensus on affirmative action. 20 The NJCRAC
"Position on Affirmative Action" affirmed support of programs that would bring
members of minority groups to the "gateways," while reiterating Jewish communal
opposition to quotas. One canny analyst noted that NJCRAC's position was
evidently motivated by the understanding that the battle over raceconscious
affirmative action was a battle over economically-valuable