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Page Twelve STAMMER ? /Stag Hew book. “Stammering. Its Cause and tWlf Correction," describes Hogue Method (or JEMaLf correction of stammering, stuttering— “l'pTTW successful 45 years. B. N. Bogus, Dept. 6504 Circle Tower, Indianapolis 4, Ind. PREVENTIVE REST CONTROL Trained Orkin Operators Use NEWEST METHODS To DESTROY OLD PESTS RATS ANTS ROACHES BEDBUGS TERMITES SILVERFISH FREE INSPECTIONS AND ESTIMATES Phone 3-0600 140 E. FORSYTH ST. Best Wishes Frank E. Dennis, Inc 2921 N. Edgewood Ave. Phone 5-0911 Old Mattresaei Made New New Mattresses Made to Order RELIABLE UPHOLSTERING send FURNITURE REPAIRING QUICK SERVICE MATTRESS COMPANY J. H. GODWIN, Prop. Let Us Convert Your Old Mattress into New Type Innerspring Mattress ONE DAY SERVICE Factory: 381 Park Street One Day Service Ph. 5-8481 It 5-8481 BEST WISHES SHOP and SAVE AT SETZER’S STORES BEST WISHES NOBBS & Company, Inc. For INSURANCE 21 N. LAURA ST. PHONE I-ISBI Best Wishes UNION FURNITURE CO. “Owf of the High Rent District ” 602 Florida Ave. Phone 5-2218 BEST WISHES ROYAL CROWN BOTTLING CO. P. 0. BOX 5095 JACKSONVILLE 7, FLORIDA EXPERT WORKMANSHIP SHOE CRAFT QUALITY SHOE REPAIRING 1983 SAN MARCO BLVD. OUR BEST WISHES LAHN'S DISTINCTIVE FEMININE ACCESSORIES Hotel Roosevelt 25 West Adams Street PHONE 5-8863 SINCEREST HOLIDAY GREETINGS Tomberlin Distributing Co. Wholesale Candies Peanuts and Cigars 210 W. EIGHTH STREET TELEPHONE 5-3855 THE SOUTHERN JEWISH WEEKLY A JEWISH PROBLEM IN THE SOUTH (Continued from Page 5) ite reasons for the Jewish attitude toward the Negro in the South. Superficially it may seem that the Jewish role in the economic pat tern of the South places Jews in a position of stress. As the econ omic underdog, the Negro is every where in the South the exploited, and the Jew is, almost every where, as the merchant, store keeper or landlord, put in the un enviable position of seeming to be a primary exploiter. The conse quent relationship leads to dif ficulties to be sure, but these are aggravated by more important factors. These are complex, but for purpose of this appraisal we may attempt to simplify them. The Influence of Assimilationism on the Jewish Attitude The most pressing cause of dis crimination practiced by the Jew is the same which motivates as similation. The Jew is eager to blend into the majority. He is fearful of being obviously different or conspicious. If the general public attitude toward the Negroes is one of hostility and discrimina tion, any failure to share that at titude will at once set the Jew off in a special category, different from his white neighbors. And, of course, it is easier to ac cept the social traditions of the environment, for good or for evil, than to battle against them, and thereby call public attention to oneself in the process. It is because Jews do business freely with Negroes, and thus are brought into frequent association with them, that they are some times given the appellation—in the South an insulting epithet—of “nigger-lovers.” The automatic reaction is to go to the other ex treme, to demonstrate that Jewfe are not “nigger-lovers.” Perhaps the dislike may be only affected but such affeeation ultimately be comes second nature, and Jews, even previously liberal Jews from the North, are soon found mouth ing all the rationalizations for pre judice against the Negro which one hears constantly in the South. Like anti-Jewish prejudice, this artificially stimulated dislike of the Negro (artificially stimulated because, aside from the few aristo cratic Jewish families who have lived in the South since Civil War days, the great majority of South ern Jewry have acquired, rather than inherited the Southern tra dition) is irrational, and can no more be upset by logic and reason ing than the prejudice of the con firmed Jew-hater can be counter acted by rational arguments. Even this parallel is lost on the South ern Jew. Intelligent observers among the Negroes recognize the Jewish de sire for assimilation, based on fear. In “Black Boy,” Richard Wright SINCEREST GREETINGS & BEST WISHES • SAVE SYSTEMATICALLY FOR FUTURE HAPPINESS $1 OPENS AN ACCOUNT FIDELITY FEDERAL SAVINGS and LOAN ASSN. 16 Laura St.—Phone 5-6025 tersely but searchingly expresses his personal distrust of a Jew be cause of the Jew’s “frantic desire to demonstrate a racial solidarity with the Whites against Negroes.” Over-Compensation As a Cause Os Anti-Negro Prejudice by Jews There is another basic cause for Jewish adoption of the prejudice. Sociologists have no difficulty in explaining the relationship be tween the colored people and the “poor whites” of the South. The latter hate the Blacks as a psychological compensation for their own poverty and their own feeling of inferiority. Jews, too, have a feeling of in feriority—the old galut feeling which 150 years of emancipation have not eradicated from our peo ple, even from those w T ho strain for assimilation. This sensitive timidity manifests itself in famil iar ways, and is responsible for many strange things which some Jews do. Whether they are conscious of it or not, then, Jew's are eternally on the defensive, constantly apol ogetic in thought and in word, par ticularly where, as in the South, they live in small, scattered | groups, and are without compen-, sating positive Jewish education. The presence of another group, more on the defensive than one’s own, a group which can be hated, feared, despised, serves to feed the natural desire for superiority. The presence of the “inferior” Negroes makes the timorous Jew more sure of himself. He is no longer the worst and the least of men. There is at least another rung on the ladder below his. Using the Negro as Scapegoat There is still another, even more shameful reason why some Jews participate in the discrimination against Negroes, and it is not un common to hear them give open expression to this opinion: "If not for the presence of the Negroes, they would hate us, and use us as scapegoats.” The colored man, then, is the substitute scapegoat, the safety valve for miscellaneous prejudices, ignorance, intolerance, which everywhere boil and bubble and explode in the face of the Jew. This justification of intolerance is so obviously immoral as to require little further treatment here. It is thoroughly contemptible. The Responsibility of Our Communal Leaders What is required, of course, is a sustained and systematic effort to eradicate this intolerance from our own people, and the place to start is with the commiNnity lead ers who so often set the social example for the others. Here is one type of leader: The president of the Sisterhood at a large Conservative synagogue in the South sounded the keynote for public opinion at a well-attend ed meeting of the local Hadassah chapter not long ago. The school bus used in transporting children to the Hebrew school had suddenly broken down, and in one section of the city a few youngsters, unaware of the breakdown, were waiting on street corners for the bus. The principal of the school explained TIRES repairs accessories „ „ ...SEBVICEHTEH, Inc. * A. M. (Mac) Lupfer Frank Kirby -FOB. OIL SERVICE 824 SOUTH MAINSTREET NES: 9 * 2222 ’ 9_914S * 9-4185 Heatimf «♦ „ JACKSONVILLE 7. FLORIDA — eat *ng Stoves Vacuum Cleaned BEST WISHES BURKETT'S FLOWERS “FOR ALL OCCASIONS" Complete Landscape and Nursery Service 21 MAW ST * at 8 * SL PHONE 5-4021 JACKSONVILLE 8. FLA. Friday, January 31, 1947 the situation before the Hadassah meeting, which was going on in the synagogue, and asked if one of the ladies would permit the school's regular bus driver to util ize her car for this purpose while she was at the meeting. There were a number of automobiles parked outside. The loan would have been a genuine mitzvah in a minor emergency. The Sisterhood president was the first to leap to her feet, and before the others could say a word, she made herself heard with indignation: “I wouldn't let a schwartzer drive my car.” Her opinion was so positively, so emphatically expressed, that not another lady in the hall stirred or uttered a word. Had not the leadership of the community spoken? There are intelligent and other wise liberal Jews in the South who are distressed at this state of affairs —but offer explanations and apology, rather than work toward elimination of the evil. One well informed and deep-thinking attor ney said to me: "Certainly I disaprove of discrim ination against the Negro. Under the law he is equal, and entitled to all the privileges and benefits (Continued on Page 38) BEST WISHES Acme Fast Freight, Inc. Dependable Daily Service 20 McDuff Avenue PHONE 7-8639 w Alwaye keep a good supply of VF Alka-Seltzer on hand because you never know what time of day or night you may need the relief it offers. Alka-Seitzer is pleasant to the taste—easy to take. Ask your druggist for Alka-Seltzer today. Remember, when your tablets get down to four tfl * ** m " *° buy