Jewish Telegraphic Agency obituary coverage documenting the extensive mourning within Jewish communities following Bayard Rustin's death, highlighting his lifelong support for Israel, Soviet Jewry movement, Holocaust remembrance, and Black-Jewish coalition building. Features statements from Jewish organizational leaders praising Rustin's advocacy for human rights and his role in fostering intergroup cooperation despite criticism from some Black quarters for his pro-Israel stance.
By the late 1980s, Black-Jewish relations had grown increasingly strained due to tensions over affirmative action, urban economic competition, and divergent views on Israel and Palestine. Jesse Jackson's 1984 presidential campaign had exposed deep fissures when he used anti-Semitic slurs and embraced Louis Farrakhan, while rising Black nationalism often portrayed Jews as exploitative middlemen in urban communities. Against this backdrop of deteriorating alliance, Rustin's death represented the loss of one of the few remaining Black leaders who actively championed Jewish causes and maintained that civil rights progress required sustained intergroup cooperation rather than racial separatism.
Citations (Chicago Style): "Jews Mourn Bayard Rustin," Jewish Telegraphic Agency, August 26, 1987, https://www.jta.org/archive/jews-mourn-bayard-rustin.
