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Jewish leader looks to Obama
Rabbi hopes strong ties to black leaders will be rekindled
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Published: July 12, 2008
NEW YORK - Rabbi Marc Schneier has spent decades trying to revive the black-Jewish alliance of the 1960s, when African-American ministers and bearded rabbis marched together for civil rights.
Some Jewish voters have expressed doubts about Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, citing his Muslim relatives and his personal history with his fiery former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. What's more, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., perhaps the nation's best-known Jewish politician, is supporting Obama's Republican opponent, John McCain.
But where some view Obama as having a "Jewish problem," Schneier -- the founder of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and author of "Shared Dreams: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Jewish Community" -- spots an answer to his prayers.
"I see Barack Obama as representing a new generation that can right the Wrights and can really educate and sensitize them to the importance of embracing Martin Luther King's Jewish legacy," he said, after lecturing to a group of black and Jewish high school students from St. Louis last month.
"No segment of American society provided as much and as consistent support to Dr. King and to the African-American community as the Jewish community."
Since Jews and blacks both voted overwhelmingly Democratic in recent elections, few seriously doubt that they won't do the same in 2008. But some, like Schneier, say a black candidate presents a rare opportunity for a frayed relationship to be renewed and revived.
It was a bond forged in a shared sense of persecution. In 1964, two of the three civil rights workers who were murdered in Mississippi, Andrew Goodwin and Michael Schwerner, were Jews; the third, James Chaney, was black.
But that golden age of black-Jewish cooperation gave way to troubled times, including controversies over Israel selling arms to apartheid-era South Africa, the 1991 Crown Heights riots in Brooklyn, and anti-Semitic remarks made by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan and other black leaders.
While relations have improved in the past decade, some say that Schneier's efforts to reunite black and Jewish voters behind Obama must take into account political trends that go beyond the civil-rights struggle.
Though historically reliable Democratic voters, U.S. Jews have grown more diverse as Orthodox Jews and immigrants from the former Soviet Union -- though still a minority -- vote more conservatively as they prioritize national and Israeli security over social justice issues.
A Gallup Poll released Tuesday showed Obama easily leading McCain among U.S. Jews, 68 percent to 26 percent. But among more "religious" or observant Jews -- defined as those who say "religion is important in my life" -- the two are tied at 45 percent each.
The Republican Jewish Coalition says that Obama's perceived weaknesses on Israel and national security, compared with McCain's record, will help the GOP make inroads with Jewish voters in November.
In response, Ira Forman, who heads the National Jewish Democratic Council, said that his group must focus on fighting untrue rumors about Obama being a Muslim and the impression of lackluster support for Israel, rather than reminding Jews of historical ties to the black community.
"There are some very fond memories about the alliance between Jews and African Americans, but I don't see people harking back to that time," he said.
Some historians, meanwhile, say that the strength of the black-Jewish alliance -- and even its demise -- has been overstated, and may not matter much as Obama tries to reassure wary Jewish voters.
"One thing that works in Obama's favor is his mantra that the '60s are so yesterday," said Devin Fergus, a history professor at Vanderbilt College and the author of Black Power, Soft Power.
"He's not a descendent of slaves. He's not trying to refight the cultural wars. That gives him space to distance himself from the divisive politics of Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan," Fergus said.
Either way, Jews, blacks and other minorities have started moving away from voting as a block -- a trend that American Jewish historian Jonathan Sarna sees as healthy, both for Jews and the political process.
"Nothing could be better for the Jewish community than to have both parties vying for the Jewish vote," said Sarna, who teaches at Brandeis University. "What makes America a great country, in my view, is that both parties have learned that it's dangerous to write a group off. We have very close elections and every vote counts."
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