REMARKS TO THE
NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS
ANNUAL AWARDS DINNER
PRESENTED BY IRA A. LIPMAN
CHAIRMAN AND PRESIDENT
GUARDSMARK, INC.
THE FAIRMONT HOTEL
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
* * *
AS PRESENTED
MAY 1, 1989

I AM PROUD TO BE A MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS.
AND I AM DEEPLY HONORED TO BE ITS NATIONAL CHAIRMAN.
THERE ARE FEW ORGANIZATIONS THAT CAN BOAST AS PROUD A HISTORY, AS IMPORTANT A MISSION, AND AS GREAT A SUCCESS IN ACHIEVING ITS GOALS.
FOR 62 YEARS, IT HAS COMBATED RACIAL AND RELIGIOUS PREJUDICE IN THE UNITED STATES. THROUGHOUT ITS HISTORY IT HAS PROMOTED THE PERSONAL AND CIVIC VIRTUES OF MUTUAL RESPECT, UNDERSTANDING, AND TOLERANCE-AND THEREBY NURTURED THE IDEA OF COMMUNITY.
BUILDING A COMMUNITY IS WHAT NCCJ IS ALL ABOUT, AND NO ONE CAN DOUBT THAT THIS ORGANIZATION HAD A PART TO PLAY IN THE GREAT PROGRESS THIS NATION HAS MADE IN REDEFINING WHAT WE, AS AMERICANS, MEAN BY COMMUNITY.
VASTLY DIt ERENT.
THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENTS CHALLENGED US WITH THE NOBLE WORDS OF OUR CONSTITUTION. BY HOLDING UP A MIRROR TO OUR SOCIETY, THESE MOVEMENTS SHOWED US THE DISCREPANCY BETWEEN OUR EXALTED RHETORIC AND THE SEARING EFFECTS OF DISCRIMINATION, THE INDIGNITY OF SECOND-CLASS CITIZENSHIP, AND THE ODD NOTION OF COMMUNITY THAT EXCLUDED OVER HALF OF OUR PEOPLE FROM FULL PARTICIPATION IN OUR SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, AND POLITICAL LIFE.
AS A NATION, WE LEARNED A GREAT DEAL FROM THOSE WHO HAD BEEN EXCLUDED. AND AS A NATION, WE ARE STRONGER FOR HAVING ENLARGED OUR COMMUNITY. MANY WOMEN, BLACKS, ASIANS, AND HISPANICS FORCED THEIR WAY OUT OF THE ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, AND SOCIAL GHETTOS TO WHICH THEY HAD BEEN RELEGATED. THEY ADDED IMMEASURABLY TO THE HEALTH OF OUR GREAT ECONOMY, THE SOUNDNESS OF OUR POLITICS, AND TILE STRENGTH OF OUR SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS.
ACCEPTANCE OF VARIOUS GROUPS IN OUR SOCIETY. THE POVERTY RATE OF BLACKS IS 33 PERCENT, HIGHER THAN IT WAS IN 1978. FOR BLACK CHILDREN, THE POVERTY RATE IS OVER 45 PERCENT; FOR HISPANIC CHILDREN, OVER 39 PERCENT; WHILE FOR WHITE CHILDREN IT IS 15 PERCENT.
WOMEN’S MEDIAN EARNINGS ARE STILL ONLY 65 PERCENT OF MEN’S. AND MORE THAN ONE-THIRD OF ALL FAMILIES HEADED BY WOMEN LIVE IN POVERTY.
THROUGH ALL THE STRUGGLES OF THESE AND OTHER GROUPS TO GAIN ACCEPTANCE, THEY HAVE HAD TO FIGHT AN UNDERCURRENT OF FEAR BASED ON IGNORANCE AND FED BY IGNORANCE. IT ALWAYS INVOLVED IN SOME WAY THE DESTRUCTION OF CIVILIZED LIFE, THE COLLAPSE OF COMMUNAL VALUES, IF BLACKS, OR CATHOLICS, OR JEWS, OR WOMEN, OR ANY OTHER EXCLUDED GROUPS, WERE ALLOWED FULL MEMBERSHIP IN THE COMMUNITY.
IT IS RATIONAL AND PLAUSIBLE, TO CAST DISCRIMINATION AS AN ECONOMIC PROTECTION OF THE COMMUNITY. DISCUSSION OF SOCIAL POLICY IN AMERICA INCREASINGLY RESEMBLES A GREAT RAFT DEBATE.
MANY OF YOU HAVE PROBABLY HEARD A RAFT DEBATE. TO SET THE SITUATION, ASSUME A BOAT HAS SUNK IN MID-OCEAN AND FIVE PEOPLE HAVE SURVIVED. THERE IS ONE RAFT, BUT ROOM FOR ONLY FOUR. THE SURVIVORS MAKE THE BEST CASE THEY CAN FOR WINNING A PLACE ON THE RAFT. TYPICALLY, THE SURVIVORS MIGHT INCLUDE A MINISTER, A PHILOSOPHER, AN ARTIST, AN ENGINEER, AND AN ECONOMIST.
WHICH OF THESE EDUCATED, ARTICULATE, VALUED MEMBERS OF SOCIETY SHALL BE DECLARED EXPENDABLE?
RAFT DEBATES ARE STIMULATING LEARNING EXPERIENCES. THEY FORCE YOU TO DEFINE YOUR NOTION OF COMMUNITY, OF WHAT CONSTITUTES A GOOD SOCIETY, OF INDIVIDUAL WORTH AND SOCIAL VALUE.
IMMIGRANT, AN HISPANIC, OR ONE OF THE HOMELESS, THE DEBATE BECOMES A SIMULATION GAME THAT MIRRORS ALL TOO WELL OUR CURRENT POLICY DEBATES.
IF WE THINK FOR A MOMENT OF OUR SOCIETY AS A RAFT, WHO HAS BEEN DECLARED EXPENDABLE, EITHER IMPLICITLY OR EXPLICITLY, IN DEEDS IF NOT IN WORDS?
THE HOMELESS ARE EXPENDABLE. THEY MUST BE, OR WE WOULDN’T ALLOW OUR FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS TO SLEEP IN CARS, ON HEATED GRATES, OR IN ABANDONED BUILDINGS. WE ARE TOLD THAT THERE IS NOTHING THAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT THE PLIGHT OF THE HOMELESS. THEY ARE MENTALLY ILL, AND WE CANNOT FORCE THEM INTO HOSPITALS AGAINST THEIR WILL.
OR THEY ARE PERFECTLY SANE, AND THEIR DISTRUST OF SOCIETY AND GOVERNMENT IS WELL FOUNDED. SO WE CANNOT FORCE THEM TO GO TO OVERNIGHT SHELTERS.
OUR CONVENTIONAL, MIDDLE-CLASS VALUES. WE MUST NOT FORCE THEM TO GIVE UP THEIR FREEDOM FOR OUR STRAIGHT-JACKET OF HOME, HEARTH, AND EMPTY STRIVING FOR MATERIAL WEALTH.
SUCH RATIONALIZATIONS AS THESE ARE ALWAYS HANDY AS WE STEP AROUND THE HOMELESS WHO LITTER OUR CITY SIDEWALKS LIKE DEBRIS FROM THE SHIPWRECK OF CIVILIZATION.
BUT THE DESCRIPTION OF THE HOMELESS AS CRAZY, ANTI-SOCIAL, OR DIFFERENT IS ONLY A PARTIAL PICTURE. HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF THEM ARE CHILDREN. MORE THAN 20 PERCENT OF THE HOMELESS HOLD FULL- OR PART-TIME JOBS. IN THE SUBURBS OF NEW YORK CITY, AN ESTIMATED TWO- THIRDS OF THE HOMELESS CONSIST OF FAMILIES. AND THE NUMBERS ARE GROWING.
IT’S BEEN SAID THAT A RISING TIDE LIFTS ALL BOATS. BUT THAT’S NOT QUITE TRUE.
OTHERS CAPSIZED, AND THE SURVIVORS ARE WASHING UP ON THE SHORES OF OUR GREAT CITIES, FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO NEW YORK.
WHO ELSE HAS BEEN EXCLUDED FROM OUR IMAGINARY RAFT? THE NEW UNDERCLASS OF THE URBAN POOR, PREDOMINATELY BLACK, WHO ARE CHRONICALLY UNEMPLOYED, BARELY EDUCATED, AND SUBSISTING ON WELFARE FOR TWO, AND NOW THREE, GENERATIONS. IN THEIR DAILY LIVES THEY RUN A GAUNTLET OF GANGS AND DRUG DEALERS. AND A BLACK BABY IS MORE THAN TWICE AS LIKELY AS A WHITE BABY TO DIE BEFORE REACHING THE AGE OF ONE.
WHAT CAN WE CONCLUDE FROM THESE HARSH FACTS IF NOT A HARSH CONCLUSION? THERE IS NO ROOM ON THE GREAT AMERICAN RAFT FOR THE UNDERCLASS. AS LONG AS THE UNDERCLASS REMAINS UNSEEN AND UNHEARD IN THEIR GHETTOS, AND THEY DON’T ROCK OUR RAFT, OUR SOCIETY IS CONTENT TO LET THEM DROWN IN DESPAIR.
THERE IS NO SPACE ON THE RAFT FOR THE 20 TO 30 MILLION ILLITERATE ADULTS IN OUR MIDST.
BETWEEN 1970 AND 1980. NO ROOM FOR THOSE WHO LACK THE SKILLS NEEDED TO MAKE IT IN OUR INCREASINGLY COMPLEX, TECHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
WHAT CAN WE DO, TO WHOM SO MUCH HAS BEEN GIVEN AND OF WHOM SO MUCH WILL BE REQUIRED?
FIRST, WE CAN RECOGNIZE A RAFT DEBATE FOR WHAT IT IS: AN EXCELLENT EXERCISE FOR AN ETHICS CLASS OR AS THE HIGHLIGHT OF A LIBERAL ARTS WEEK ON A COLLEGE CAMPUS. BUT AS A MODEL UNDERLYING SOCIAL POLICY, IT IS FATALLY FLAWED. BECAUSE THE ASSUMPTIONS ON WHICH IT IS BASED ARE FALSE.
OUR SOCIETY IS NOT A RAFT.
TO SHARE IS NOT TO SHRINK.
NO ONE IS EXPENDABLE.
THOSE WHO DENY IT. SOME DENY IT WITH ARTICULATE AND SOPHISTICATED REASONING, LIKE THOSE WHO WOULD RATION HEALTH CARE AND, LIKE THE BATTLEFIELD MEDIC, DECIDE WHO SHOULD LIVE AND WHO SHOULD DIE.
OTHERS-LIKE THE SKINHEADS-DENY IT WITH VEHEMENCE.
THE SKINHEADS HATE.
THEY HATE BLACKS-AND WANT TO DEPORT THEM TO AFRICA.
THEY HATE ASIANS AND HISPANICS.
THEY HATE JEWS-AND DENY THE HOLOCAUST.
THEY DENY THE REALITY OF AUSCHWITZ, DACHAU, BIRKENAU, AND THERESIENSTADT. THEY DO NOT SEE THE HORROR WE HAVE SEEN IN THOSE PLACES.
JEWS AND FIVE MILLION NON-JEWS WHO WERE SYSTEMATICALLY EXTERMINATED IN THE NAZI MADNESS.
THEY DENY IT.
THEY DENY THE JUSTICE OF OUR CAUSE IN WORLD WAR II.
THEY DENY THE GLORY OF THEIR OWN FATHERS, GRANDFATHERS, GREAT- GRANDFATHERS, UNCLES, COUSINS, AND OTHER RELATIVES WHO DIED DURING THE NORMANDY LANDINGS AT UTAH BEACH AND OMAHA BEACH.
THEY DENY THE BRAVERY AT BASTOGNE, AND THE ANGUISH OF ANZIO, CORREGIDOR, GUADALCANAL, AND MIDWAY.
THEY DENY THE TRAGEDY AND THE TRIUMPH.
THE SKINHEADS ARE GROWING IN NUMBER ACROSS THE COUNTRY AS THEY SPREAD THEIR LIES.
FRONT’L-IS A LIE, BECAUSE THEY DO NOT UPHOLD AMERICAN IDEALS, BUT WORK TO DESTROY THEM. THEY ARE DANGEROUS. THEIR IGNORANCE IS DANGEROUS. THEIR HATRED IS DANGEROUS. THEIR INTOLERANCE IS DANGEROUS.
THEY ARE A WARNING TO US ALL OF WHAT HAPPENS WHEN PEOPLE, KNOWINGLY OR NOT, ACCEPT THE ASSUMPTIONS OF A SOCIETAL RAFT DEBATE.
TO THINK OF OUR SOCIETY AS A RAFT, AS A CLOSED SYSTEM WHERE SHARING DIMINISHES ALL OF US, IS A SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY.
MORAL ISSUE. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC MEANS ARE ALWAYS FOUND WHERE MORAL COMMITMENT IS STRONG. BUT IF THAT STRENGTH IS LACKING, THEN AN ABUNDANCE OF REASONS-POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, AND SOCIOLOGICAL-SPRING UP OVERNIGHT TO EXPLAIN WHY THINGS ARE AS THEY ARE AND WHY NOTHING SHOULD OR CAN BE DONE.
BUT SUCH MISERY IN THE MIDST OF OUR ABUNDANCE SIMPLY CANNOT BE JUSTIFIED. IT IS TIME TO RECOGNIZE THAT GOOD WILL IS NOT ENOUGH. GOVERNMENT ALONE CANNOT DO THE JOB. SOCIAL SERVICE AGENCIES ALONE CANNOT DO THE JOB. CHURCHES, SYNAGOGUES, FOUNDATIONS, AND INDIVIDUAL MEN AND WOMEN ALONE CANNOT DO THE JOB. BUT TOGETHER, WITH FIRMNESS OF PURPOSE AND THE MORAL STRENGTH TO SEE IT THROUGH, WE CAN WIPE OUT THE POVERTY, MALNUTRITION, ILLITERACY, INFANT MORTALITY, AND UNEMPLOYMENT THAT RAVAGE OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN OUR OWN HOME TOWNS ACROSS THIS GREATEST AND WEALTHIEST OF NATIONS.
OR EXCLUDED OR LEFT BY THE WAYSIDE BECAUSE OF HIS OR HER RELIGION, RACE, GENDER, OR PLACE OF BIRTH.
TOO MANY INDIVIDUALS IN TOO MANY GROUPS HAVE BEEN DENIED FULL PARTICIPATION IN AMERICAN LIFE, TO THEIR REGRET AND OUR LOSS. ONE OF OUR GREATEST STRENGTHS AS A PEOPLE IS THE VERY DIVERSITY, THE RICHNESS OF OUR DIFFERENCES, THAT EXCLUSION, INTOLERANCE, AND BENIGN NEGLECT SEEK TO DENY. THAT IS ONE REASON THAT THE PROGRAM TO MANAGE DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE IS SO IMPORTANT.
IT SEEMS TO BE A NATURAL LAW THAT WITHOUT GROWTH, THERE IS DECAY. BECAUSE A STATIC COMMUNITY DOES NOT SURVIVE FOR LONG. IF THERE IS NOT NEW GROWTH, A DYNAMIC REASSERTION OF PURPOSE AND VISION, A CONTINUING PROCESS OF RENEWAL AND REBIRTH, THEN THAT COMMUNITY BECOMES A FOSSIL, A RELIC, A PIECE OF DEBRIS LEFT BEHIND BY THE FLOW OF TIME.
POLITICAL POWER. COMMUNITIES CAN ALSO GROW IN MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING, IN REVERENCE FOR THE INDIVIDUAL, IN RECOGNITION THAT EVERY PERSON CARRIES THE DIVINE SPARK OF LIFE.
COMMUNITY GROWTH ULTIMATELY DEPENDS ON THE ACTIONS OF INDIVIDUALS, AND THERE IS MUCH THAT WE AS INDIVIDUALS CAN DO, BOTH IN OUR PRIVATE AND PUBLIC ROLES, TO FOSTER THAT GROWTH.
NO ONE WOULD DENY THAT IT IS SOMETIMES DIFFICULT TO SEE THE DIVINE OPERATING IN OUR FELLOW MAN. OUR HUMAN VISION TOO EASILY BLURS WITH MISUNDERSTANDING, OR HATRED, OR IND11114ERENCE. BUT WE MUST NOT CEASE IN OUR STRUGGLE TO CREATE A TRUE COMMUNITY THAT INCLUDES ALL THE CHILDREN OF GOD.
THAT IS THE ULTIMATE MISSION OF THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS, AND THAT IS WHY I AM SO PROUD TO BE ONE OF ITS MEMBERS.