Rabbi addresses 50th annual SCLC convention

By Alan Smason
August 18, 2008

In a keynote address of historic proportions, Rabbi Marc Schneier, co-founder and president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, spoke before the 50th annual meeting of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Kenner on July 27, urging better understanding and tolerance between the African-American and Jewish communities as part of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Schneier, an 18th generation rabbi, former chairman of the World Jewish Congress of North America and recipient of the SCLC's Ecumenical Award in 2003, is considered an expert on the important historic connection between the two communities. He instituted The Foundation for Ethnic Understanding in 1989 with the help of the late New York impresario Joseph Papp, but today he partners with hip hop mogul Russell Simmons. The foundation has offices in New York and Washington.

"The great quality of my dear friend Russell Simmons is that he has embraced Martin Luther King's legacy," said Schneier in an exclusive DSJV interview. "I've often said that Dr. King understood that a people who fight for their own rights are only as honorable as when they fight for the rights of all people."

Schneier was selected to deliver his keynote address just before SCLC President Charles Steele was to give his talk in Kenner at the Rivertown Museum. Schneier began his remarks by reminding the assembly that no segment of American society provided as much and as consistent support to King, the SCLC and the African-American community as did the Jewish community. "The historic alliance of blacks and Jews was greatly responsible for bringing about some of the greatest political and social changes in the history of our nation, he noted.

The rabbi continued speaking of King’s legacy, and specifically noted how he fought for the rights of Jew and in particular was a strong advocate for the State of Israel.

Schneier pointed out that King's zero tolerance for anti-Semitism was brave, especially when so many voices within the black militant wing had begun to side with the Palestinian cause.

In his book "Shared Dreams: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Jewish Community," Schneier stated his belief that King recognized the inherent power in connecting the struggles of one people with another. He found a similarity between King's legacy and the recent visit to the Middle East by presumptive Democratic Party presidential nominee Barack Obama, who recalled at his landing at Ben Gurion Airport how King regarded Israel as one of the great outposts of democracy.

"I thought to myself how proud Martin Luther King would have been in knowing that little, tiny Israel is the only country in the history of the world to have taken blacks out of Africa en masse and embraced them,” Schneier said, He also was moved by Obama's standing in solidarity with the citizens of Sderot, who have withstood waves of missile attacks from Palestinians in Gaza for several years.

Schneier' s address before the SCLC delegates followed an invitation last April to lay a wreath on King's tomb along with New York Senator Hillary Clinton in observance of the 40th anniversary of King's assassination. Schneier was the only Jewish spiritual leader chosen to participate in those ceremonies.

Prior to his SCLC address, Schneier acknowledged that the alliance between African-Americans and Jewish Americans has experienced a breakdown since King's assassination. "Since then there has been a serious effort made by a group of us who have devoted our time, energy and resources such that the state of black-Jewish relations today is one of cooperation, not one of conflict," Schneier affirmed.

Schneier suggested that ethnic allegiance and pride is traditional in the U.S. "we had that when Joe Lieberman was nominated to be the vice president, and the African American community clearly has that today in terms of their excitement." he said.

The rabbi believes this has made some members of the Jewish community uneasy. "I think it's a very unfortunate reaction for us to have,” he continued. “I think Obama is arriving at a time where you have among certain Jews a generation of mistrust because of the Wrights of this world and also because of our heightened sensitivity and concern for Israel today.”

Fresh from a conference in Madrid sponsored by the King of Saudi Arabia, at which moderation was urged among world religions, Schneier was one of several invited leaders from the Islamic, Christian and Jewish communities.

He said he thinks Middle Eastern powers are frightened of Islamic terrorists. "I believe in my heart of hearts that this battle can only be fought from within, not without," he said, "We must identify a more moderate, centrist clerical religious voice because I do see this as a theological war. We must assist those in Islam taking this back from a cadre of fundamentalists that have hijacked their religion."