Jack Salzman, Cornel West Struggles in the Promised

334 // THEODORE M. SHAW
gation, cumulative voting schemes challenge the proposition that the best form
of democracy is one in which winners and losers are determined by who gets 5 1
percent or more and who gets 49 percent or less of the vote. Whatever the merits
of such proposal, Guinier's articles were squarely within the parameters of the
kinds of intellectual inquires undertaken by law school professors and, moreover,
were aimed at decreasing racial polarization.
Unfortunately, Bolick's distortions were given currency, and some individuals
within the Jewish community furthered the misinterpretation of her writings.
Jerome Chanes, of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council
(NJCRAC), claims credit for sounding "the opening bell in an article in the
Jewish weekly, Forward, against Professor Guinier's nomination, purportedly
because she was advancing the goal of 'proportionate representation.'" The
American Jewish Congress and the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of
America took public positions opposing Guinier's nomination consistent with, if
not based on, the Bolick-Chanes distortions of the meaning of her writings. 35
gation, cumulative voting schemes challenge the proposition that the best form
of democracy is one in which winners and losers are determined by who gets 51
percent or more and who gets 49 percent or less of the vote. Whatever the merits
of such proposal, Guinier's articles were squarely within the parameters of the
kinds of intellectual inquires undertaken by law school professors and, moreover,
were aimed at decreasing racial polarization.
Unfortunately, Bolick's distortions were given currency, and some individuals
within the Jewish community furthered the misinterpretation of her writings.
Jerome Chanes, of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council
(NJCRAC), claims credit for sounding "the opening bell in an article in the
Jewish weekly, Forward, against Professor Guinier's nomination, purportedly
because she was advancing the goal of 'proportionate representation.'" The
American Jewish Congress and the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of
America took public positions opposing Guinier's nomination consistent with, if
not based on, the Bolick-Chanes distortions of the meaning of her writings. 35
So we have come full circle. Once again again at the turn of of a new century, the Supreme
Court has capped an era of racial retrenchment retrenchment with a series of decisions limiting
the scope of civil civil rights protection for African Americans. Once again the nation
seems to be receding from the high water mark of of black political representation
and participation. participation. Once again the issue of race (this time exacerbated by the class
line) looms large before us. Once again again African African Americans are being chastised for
seeking protection as "the special favorite of the laws."
Who will stand with African African Americans in in their efforts to achieve the full
measure of American life? If Jews pursue the goal of a "color blind" society in
which there can be no recognition of common interests among African Americans
on on the theory that that such recognition will stereotype them, even even while while Jews and
other othet ethnic groups pursue their common interests within the pluralistic
American American polity, the alliance that ushered in the the modern Rights Era will not be
repeated. Perhaps the passage of Jews from a status where Jewish-ness Jewish-ness set them
apart from the mainstream and led them to to challenge exclusion based based on religion
and and race to a status where white-ness white-ness places them among those whose whose interest interest is
in maintaining the status quo has made the old coalition obsolete.
But perhaps African Americans and Jews can rediscover some common ground
in some principled place. Perhaps we can all find some common ground there.
Notes
//
1. A chronicle chronicle of those contributions is beyond the scope of this article and, in
any event, is well known by those with even a passing interest on the subject of black-
Jewish relationships. Of particular note arc the stories of philanthropist Julius