We’ve all heard how during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s Blacks and Jews were standing together for equality. We’ve all heard the story of the “Mississippi Burning” case, where James Chaney (Black), Micky Schwerner (Jewish) and Andrew Goodman (Jewish) were killed. The latest conviction in that case just occurred last year, when Klansman Edgar Ray Killen was sentenced to 60 years in prison. Well everyone wonders, what happened to the bond that Blacks and Jews used to have during the Civil Rights Movement? So-called Black Leaders with terrible timing and greedy palms is what happened!

The main players were Andrew Young, Joseph Lowery and Jesse Jackson. Given Lowery’s latest show of making a fool of himself, it’s a good time to remember how he along with others destroyed a bond built in blood.

In 1979 Andrew Young was America’s U.N. Ambassador. He decided to have a meeting with a representative of the PLO without informing anyone else (ie secret meeting). Needless to say this was a bad time to have a secret meeting with Yasser Arafat’s bunch. (As if there was ever a good time to meet with Arafat’s bunch.) Mr. Young was forced to resign from his post. Rumors swirled that Israeli spies leaked information about Young’s secret meeting to the media. Once this happened the race hustling so-called “Black Leaders” said that Black Jewish relations had been torn. Because Mr. Young had been taken from power and he had clout with many Blacks. The funny thing is that everyday Blacks on the street really were not seeing things that way. In Ken Timmerman’s book “Shakedown” he points out that a Gallup poll showed 78% of Blacks felt Black-Jewish relations were very or somewhat friendly. But Jesse Jackson said they were:

I was going to a mostly Jewish public school then. I never saw any of these “tense” relations and nobody has ever informed me of such issues when Mr. Young had to resign.

Also a Time Magazine article mentions how Blacks did not see any “tense” relations:

Well the so-called leaders were upset, because their crony took one on the chin! So then enters Joseph Lowery. Who was then the head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). His group decided that with Young taken out of power THEY would run to speak with the PLO. Of course this was not a bright move. Blacks in America really were not as pressed about Israel and the Palestinians as they were with other issues. (Remember the oil crisis?) But that did not stop Lowery, who met with the PLO on two occasions. The 2nd meeting was the result of an invite from Arafat himself to meet with him in Lebanon. When Lowery started getting cozy with Arafat, Jesse Jackson jumped in and started demanding cash! As Mr. Timmerman points out in his book, Jesse claimed he wanted an:

Did Blacks see any of that money? Nobody I know did! But Jesse Jackson’s PUSH foundation started seeing cash!

Here’s one mention of it:

While Jesse was getting paid and Lowery was trying to do what he claims was work for Christ in the name of peace, other Black groups were trying to maintain the bond with Jewish groups given they were getting ticked.

Well how successful was Lowery’s trip to see Arafat? About as successful as all other talks with Arafat!

Does Lowery think the PLO is a terrorist group? I guess that depends on your definition of the word “is” .

So Joseph Lowery says Menachem Begin is a terrorist and therefore it’s OK to call the PLO terrorists. While he points out the PLO terrorist training schools and all. This reminds me of how some people praise bin Laden for building schools and they claim Hitler had some “good”. I wonder if Lowery ever had tea with Marge Schott?

The bottom line is Young got dumped, Jesse got paid and Lowery got played. (And I must say that over time Young has recovered from that past slip-up much better than the other 2.)

Of course Lowery was told that he should not engage the PLO and that they were not to be trusted. This did not phase him. The fact Israel was acting in it’s own self defense did not deter him from meeting with terrorists and trying to make it seem as if both sides had equal measures of evil.

In the end Lowery’s efforts changed nothing, except the bond between Blacks and Jews.

Well that is the past and I hope we all can live as Americans now. But Lowery’s latest “bull in a China shop” act caused me to recall how he’s been passing up good council for decades!

Related post: Pretty funny that Joseph Lowery would oppose GA?s Voter ID law, considering the actions of his own group!