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The Foundation is a national non-profit dedicated to strengthening relations between ethnic communities. We are committed to the belief that direct, face-to-face dialogue between ethnic communities is the most effective path towards the reduction of bigotry and the promotion of reconciliation and understanding. |
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Rabbi Marc Schneier, chairman, World Jewish Congress American Section, and president, The Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, was an invited guest of Dr. Charles Steele, Jr., national president, SCLC in New Orleans at the 50th annual convention. Rabbi Schneier, who addressed the conference on Sunday prior to the SCLC's Presidential Address, was the only Jewish speaker invited to address conference attendees. "It is an extreme honor to address an organization, which for the last50 years has done more to shape the direction of this country and the freedoms of all people than any other group," said Rabbi Schneier following his remarks. During his address, Rabbi Schneier invoked the legacy of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., SCLC's founder, and shared his thoughts of Senator Obama's recent trip to Israel. "When Senator Obama landed at Ben Gurion International Airport, I was reminded of the words of Dr. King when he called Israel the great outpost of democracy and brotherhood," said Rabbi Schneier. "Dr. King was a tremendous supporter of Israel, as were the Jewish people of his fight for equal rights. I believe, if he were alive today, he would have been proud to see Senator Obama touring a nation he admired as the democratic nominee for president of the country he loved and died working to make stronger." In addition, Rabbi Schneier spoke of the shared history between Jews and African Americans, including the Jewish community's unparalleled support and activism during the civil rights movement. Rabbi Schneier sighted the actions
of Jewish civil rights activists Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman,
who were murdered alongside James Chaney by members of the Ku Klux Klan
while organizing an African American voter registration drive in Philadelphia,
Mississippi; and Cleveland, Ohio Rabbi Arthur Lelyveld, who was beaten
in Mississippi by white separatists in 1964, as examples of the shared
sacrifice Jews and African Americans made for equal rights. |
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