Jackson Asks Jews to Assist Race Unity

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, in a speech to the American Jewish Committee in Los Angeles, called Thursday night for renewed efforts to heal racial divisions in the United States and the world.

“The cause is to move beyond racism, sexism, elitism, anti-Semitism, anti-Arabism, anti-Hispanicism, to move beyond ancient fears and prejudices,” Jackson said in prepared remarks for the annual awards dinner of the Jewish committee’s Los Angeles chapter.

Jackson, who continues to be mistrusted by some Jews because of some of his statements about Middle East policy, said to the more than 400 present, “We must reason together, we must count the costs of division and see the manifold benefit of unity.

“The one with the greatest capacity to forgive and redeem is best able to forge peace and end conflict.

‘We Are All Americans’

“Palestinians and Israelis, African-Americans and whites, Jews and Gentiles, Arabs and Asians--we are all Americans.

“We are all beneficiaries of the real genius of the American experiment.

“Tonight we are called to reason, to shift from racial and religious battlegrounds to economic common ground and higher ground.”

The dinner honored Los Angeles attorney Ronald L. Olson with the American Jewish Committee’s Learned Hand Award for a lawyer who contributes to public service. The award is named after the late U.S. Supreme Court justice.

Olson, in his remarks, praised Jackson for his ability “to prod and to push” in the American political dialogue.

Urges Loan Source

In his speech, Jackson reminded the audience that blacks and Jews worked side by side in the Civil rights movements and urged them to do so again in creating an “American investment bank” to help direct money toward poor communities “to create the jobs that create the tax base.”

Among those in the audience were Los Angeles philanthropist Stanley K. Sheinbaum, prominent attorneys Geof Cowan and Mickey Kantor, City Councilmen Robert Farrell and Zev Yaroslavsky and City Atty. James K. Hahn.

In an interview before his speech, Jackson said he was puzzled because he was not invited to attend a fund-raising event held in Washington last night by the campaign committees for Democratic congressmen and senators.

He said he also had not been invited to two other major Democratic functions in recent weeks and was disturbed because he thought he was beginning to see “a pattern.”