Blacks and Jews: The Strained Alliance
| Author | Peter I. Rose |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271628145400106 |
| Published date | 01 March 1981 |
| Date | 01 March 1981 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
55
Blacks
and
Jews:
The
Strained
Alliance
By
PETER
I.
ROSE
Peter
I.
Rose,
Ph.D.
Cornell,
1959,
is
Sophia
Smith
Professor
and
Director
of
the
American
Studies
Diploma
Program
at
Smith
College
and
is
a
member
of
the
Graduate
Faculty
of the
University
of
Massachusetts.
He
is
the
author
of
They
and
We,
The
Subject
is
Race,
and
Strangers
in
Their
Midst,
editor
of
The
Study
of
Society,
The
Ghetto
and
Beyond:
Essays
on
Jewish
Life
in
America,
Seeing
Our-
selves,
Nation
of
Nations,
Americans
from
Africa,
Views
from
Abroad,
and
Sociali-
zation
and
the
Life
Cycle
and
is
coeditor
of
Through
Different
Eyes:
Black
and
White
Perspectives
on
American
Race
Relations.
ABSTRACT:
Martin
Luther
King
once
stated
that
"It
would
be
impossible
to
record
the
contribution
that
Jewish people
have
made
toward
the
Negro’s
struggle
for
freedom,
it
has
been
so
great."
For
years
there
was
a
good
deal
of public
dis-
cussion
of the
commitment
of
Jews
to
the
relief
of
black
suffer-
ing
and
of
black
appreciation
for
it.
Recently
much
has
been
written
about
the
asymmetrical
character
of
the
relationship
and
about
the
once-masked,
now-open
evidence
of
black
anti-
Semitism
and
Jewish
racism
in
certain
quarters
of
both
com-
munities,
some
of them
quite
strategic.
The
fact
is
that
Black-
Jewish
relations
have
always
had
a
paradoxical
quality:
Blacks
and
Jews
have
been
strangers
to
one
another,
more
than
popular
liberal
sentiment
would
suggest;
neighbors,
who,
at
least
in
the
North,
have
lived
and
worked
in
close
proximity
if
not
equality;
allies
in
the
struggle
for
civil
rights;
and
op-
ponents,
especially
on
issues
as
diverse
as
affirmative
action
and
American
policy
in
the
Middle
East.
This
article
examines
some
of the
paradoxes
in
"the
strained
alliance."
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