The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1947-03-20

IL Is SOOQ DOCK 10 Tedu III CneSe
times. 1t ought to make good read
ing in Moscow just now.
Also at home.
The book goes deeply into race
and religious intolerance, with a
candor that often is lacking in cir
cles where the subject is discussed.
! In Asch's book little Catholic
| girl gets all mixed into the lives
of the members of an orthodox
Jewish family. Into the lives of
these people and their friends the
author mingles a great deal of the
history of the struggle of the Jew
ish unions of New York to rise
from bondage to an approximation
of decency.
One great fact sticks out through
many of the pages; among the
worst exploiters of the immigrant
Jew-the "greenhorn"-were Jews.
He could have written much the
same OF the Irisli>of the days when
immigration was at flood tide. And
the Italians.
AS for prejudice, it all comes
back to the fact that it just doesn't
do to damn whole race. There
is no such thing as bad race of
people.
misunderstanding has a lot to
do with prejudice. Both Jew and
Catholic have their religious rites,
which are, in a way, the adorn-
ment of their faith. The one is
very different from the other Peo-
pie who are very different from
each other are likely to build up
prejudices, failing to see that in
both there is beauty, as well as
something dearly cherished.
Among all races there are per-
sons who may be singled out as
persons with whom friendship
could not be established. If our
judgments could be passed on in
dividuals we would have quite a
different world.
But we are prone to find one
who offerds and for that reason
denounce a whole group, or even a
whole race or religion. That's
childish, as well as wrong.
Of course minorities whose prac-
tices are far out of line with those
of the majority always run the
risk of being victims of prejudices,
because not enough tolerance has
been instilled into us. We are not
sufficiently civilized, which is too
bad.
We need to remember, always,
that intolerance is no one-way
matter.
Set down a minority of Chris
tians among Jews and most likely
the prejudice, with its evidences,
would run against the Christians.
Whites don't do any strutting in
black Haiti.
Persons of English lineage have
been made to feel their minority
status in American centers having
Germanic majorities.
| know a Negro area wherein
the Jewish merchant has to watch
his step.
Perhaps the trade union move
ment is about as free from active
prejudice as any portion of our
population. For that there is a
reason. 1t is that American unions
have insisted that they have one
job and that job is in the field of
employer-employee relations.
But the labor movement is not
entirely free, even though it has
led wisely and well.
There is room for improvement
and there will be improvement.
There is a dignity about being
a human being that should com
mand universal respect. But of
course it is hard to respect dignity |
in the individual who, himself,
fails to act with dignity, which |
also means decency.
We have a long road yet to go |
before we are entirely civilized,
before we can rid our minds of |
which have become |
ingrown through countless gener-
ations.
We put upon college professors
in about the same way that we put
upon minority races. We spend
more money on education, per
capita, than any other nation and
then we get an unholy glee out of
"brain trusters," etc,
as though to be educated were
evil, something that
might rob a person of good judg-
ment.
We need lot more education
of the kind that sweeps
clouds out of the mind, that let's
the mind see clearly. with no |