REMARKS TO THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGION
26TH ANNUAL HUMANITARIAN AWARD DINNER
OF THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRIES
PRESENTED BY IRA A. LIPMAN
NATIONAL CHAIRMAN
N.C.C.J.
CHAIRMAN AND PRESIDENT
GUARDSMARK, INC.
LOS ANGELES ROOM
CENTURY PLAZA HOTEL
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
OCTOBER 16, 1989

I AM DELIGHTED TO SEE ALL OF YOU HERE TONIGHT.
THERE ARE SOME WONDERFUL PEOPLE HERE WHO DESERVE TO BE RECOGNIZED FOR ALL THEIR HARD WORK ON BEHALF OF NCCJ.
THE NATIONAL CO-CHAIR OF NCCJ, LORING MARLETT, AND HIS WIFE PEGGY.
JOHN ROHRBECK OF KNBC.
SID SHEINBERG OF MCA.
BOB DALY OF WARNER BROTHERS.
WE’D ALSO LIKE TO THANK OUR DINNER CHAIR FRANK MANCUSO, AND OUR DINNER CO-CHAIR BRANDON TARTIKOFF.
INTOLERANCE, AND BIGOTRY THAT THEY SHALL NOT RULE-NOT HERE IN LOS ANGELES-AND NOT ANYWHERE ELSE IN THIS GREAT NATION.
NCCJ PLAYS A LEADING ROLE IN THE CONSTANT STRUGGLE TO PRESERVE AND STRENGTHEN THE AMERICAN BELIEF IN TOLERANCE, MUTUAL RESPECT, AND ETHNIC DIVERSITY. HERE IN LOS ANGELES, THREE MAJOR PROGRAMS ARE HELPING TO ENSURE THAT NEW GENERATIONS ARE TAUGHT EARLY ON WHAT OLDER GENERATIONS LEARNED ONLY AT GREAT COST. EVERY WEEK NCCJ STAFF VISIT SEVEN HIGH SCHOOLS TO HELP FACULTY AND STUDENTS DEAL WITH INCREASING ETHNIC AND RACIAL TENSIONS. FOR BOTH THE SIZE AND THE SUCCESS OF THIS PROGRAM, WE ARE INDEBTED TO THE GENEROSITY OF SOMEONE YOU KNOW WELL-MR. HERB ALPERT.
ANOTHER KEY PROGRAM FOCUSES ON BUILDING THE SELF-ESTEEM OF STUDENTS IN MORE THAN 200 ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS WITH THE MESSAGE OF “IT’S OKAY TO BE DIEFERENT.” AND A THIRD IMPORTANT PROGRAM TRAINS JUSTICE AGENCIES AND POLICE DEPARTMENTS ABOUT OUR NEW IMMIGRANTS
ESSENTIAL AS GREATER NUMBERS OF OUR MORE EXPERIENCED OFFICERS REACH RETIREMENT AGE AND ARE REPLACED BY YOUNG RECRUITS.
LOS ANGELES HAS SEEN ITS SHARE OF STRIFE. BUT IT IS NOT ALONE. ACROSS THE NATION-ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES, IN HIGH SCHOOLS, IN THE STREETS OF OUR CITIES, AND PAINTED ON THE WALLS OF TEMPLES-THERE ARE SIGNS OF GROWING INTOLERANCE THAT FEEDS ON FEAR AND IGNORANCE. AS IT ALWAYS HAS. AS IT ALWAYS WILL.
INCREASINGLY, THE FEAR IS ONE OF LOSS-THAT SOMEHOW SOME GROUP- WHETHER IT’S BLACKS OR JEWS OR VIETNAMESE OR KOREANS OR CUBANS- WILL TAKE AWAY THE JOB, THE NEIGHBORHOOD, THE SEAT AT BERKELEY, THE CONTROL OF THE VOTING DISTRICT.
INSTEAD WE MUST THINK OF OUR SOCIETY AS A BANQUET TABLE, TO WHICH ALL OF US HAVE BEEN INVITED. WE WERE NOT INVITED BECAUSE OF OUR INTELLIGENCE, OR OUR EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTS, OR OUR BUSINESS ACHIEVEMENTS, OR OUR TABLE MANNERS. WE WERE ALL INVITED BECAUSE WE ARE ALL EQUALLY HUMAN. WHO ARE WE TO TELL THE HOST THAT IT’S TIME TO BOLT THE DOORS, THAT THERE’S NOT ENOUGH FOOD TO GO AROUND, THAT THOSE PEOPLE OUTSIDE HAVE LOST THEIR INVITATIONS, OR DIDN’T DESERVE THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE, OR WILL EMBARRASS US WITH THEIR LACK OF ETIQUETTE?
WHAT CAN WE DO, TO WHOM SO MUCH HAS BEEN GIVEN AND OF WHOM SO MUCH WILL BE REQUIRED?
WE CAN BEGIN AS INDIVIDUALS TO BUILD A COMMUNITY BY GROWING IN MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING, IN REVERENCE FOR THE INDIVIDUAL, AND IN RECOGNITION THAT EVERY PERSON CARRIES THAT DIVINE SPARK OF LIFE. AND WE CAN FOSTER THAT GROWTH IN OTHERS.
OPERATING IN OUR FELLOW MAN. OUR HUMAN VISION TOO EASILY BLURS WITH MISUNDERSTANDING, OR HATRED, OR INDIFFERENCE. BUT WE MUST NOT CEASE IN OUR STRUGGLE TO CREATE A TRUE COMMUNITY BASED ON FAIRNESS, JUSTICE, AND TOLERANCE.