Jewish Community Relations Council, Boston, Massachusetts |
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practically unchallenged;* This is gelling to be a serious business. It sceras that every few weeks, now, Boston is held up before the country as decadent, racially biased, ultra- prudish, intolerant of free speech or even seething with crime. " The latest is the charge that the teachers in the Boston public schools are "sowing the seeds of the third world war by telling the pupils that the next war will be with Russia and that they might as well be prepared for it." The man who made this charge, when questioned about it, admitted that lie had no first-hand evidence to back up his charge, but merely that he had heard it said by a speaker in the Ford Hall Forum, a certain Miss Ella Winter employed by a New York newspaper. That an educated man holding a responsible position before, the public should repeat and amplify such a charge without seeking to verity the facts is almost unbelievable. But the authorities who permit publicity seekers to come to Boston and make such charges without being able to back up their statements by concrete evidence are certainly open to censure. • This is not to imply that Boston should put any brakes on the privilege of free speech. Free speech was born right here in Boston in Faneuil Hall, at a time when it was almost unknown in any other country in the world, and where the things that were said here against the foreign oppressor might well have been paid for by the death penalty. Biit free .speech does not mean, freedom to libel and to tarnish the name of the whole community, as is being done so often in recent years. To recall an instance of some weeks ago, a magazine "with a national circulation went out of its way to belittle the people of Boston and sneeHngly published a photograph of a couple, of South Boston boys who were referred to as "tough" specimens. Did it ever occur to the editors of this magazine that they could have taken similar pictures of worse slums and of tougher specimens in New York, where the editors live, or in Chicago. or New Orleans or even in that typical American city, Memphis, Tenn., which has the worst homicide record of any city in the country? We find that similar magazines and i newspapers, some of them with semi- communistic connections, start a clamor of derision every time the Boston authorities attempt to clamp, the censorship on some particularly! vicipus, obscene new book." Apparently, in their opinion, there is no filth too foul to put in the hands of their children in the name of free speech or free press. Instead of attacking the sources of, publications that are intaminating the public mind with lihe 61th that seems to be a necessary |backlog for every -new "best seller," they deride the men who make an honest aUcmpl,to cleanse the atmosphere. We think it is high time that the various organizations representing Boston—church, cultural, civic, and even a business organisation such as the Chamber of Commerce—should baud together in a co-operative effort lo put an end to these loud speakers who come here and besmirch the good name of our city. We think it is not beyond the bounds of ordinary fairness that before such speakers are allowed to- make public their charges they should be made to verify the tatcntcnts as to facts. Perhaps if one or more of these false larms were hauled before a grand jury for libel or slander, they might be a bit more wary of making wild j charges.
Object Description
Collection Name | Jewish Community Relations Council, Boston, Massachusetts |
Collection Number | I-123 |
Dates | 1945; 1946; 1947; 1948; 1949; 1950; 1951; 1952; 1953; 1954; 1955; 1956 |
Box Number | 166 |
Folder Number | 07 |
Subjects |
Antisemitism Civil Rights Social Justice World War II |
Access | Request access |
Rights | User has an obligation to determine copyright or other use restrictions prior to publication or distribution. Please contact the archives at reference@ajhsboston.org or 617-226-1245 for more information. |
Source | American Jewish Historical Society-New England Archives, New England Historic Genealogical Society |
Description
Collection Name | Jewish Community Relations Council, Boston, Massachusetts |
Collection Number | I-123 |
Dates | 1945; 1946; 1947; 1948; 1949; 1950; 1951; 1952; 1953; 1954; 1955; 1956 |
Box Number | 166 |
Folder Number | 07 |
Subjects |
Antisemitism Civil Rights Social Justice World War II |
Description |
Activities Media Newspapers and Magazines Boston Post |
Access | Request access |
Rights | User has an obligation to determine copyright or other use restrictions prior to publication or distribution. Please contact the archives at reference@ajhsboston.org or 617-226-1245 for more information. |
Transcript | practically unchallenged;* This is gelling to be a serious business. It sceras that every few weeks, now, Boston is held up before the country as decadent, racially biased, ultra- prudish, intolerant of free speech or even seething with crime. " The latest is the charge that the teachers in the Boston public schools are "sowing the seeds of the third world war by telling the pupils that the next war will be with Russia and that they might as well be prepared for it." The man who made this charge, when questioned about it, admitted that lie had no first-hand evidence to back up his charge, but merely that he had heard it said by a speaker in the Ford Hall Forum, a certain Miss Ella Winter employed by a New York newspaper. That an educated man holding a responsible position before, the public should repeat and amplify such a charge without seeking to verity the facts is almost unbelievable. But the authorities who permit publicity seekers to come to Boston and make such charges without being able to back up their statements by concrete evidence are certainly open to censure. • This is not to imply that Boston should put any brakes on the privilege of free speech. Free speech was born right here in Boston in Faneuil Hall, at a time when it was almost unknown in any other country in the world, and where the things that were said here against the foreign oppressor might well have been paid for by the death penalty. Biit free .speech does not mean, freedom to libel and to tarnish the name of the whole community, as is being done so often in recent years. To recall an instance of some weeks ago, a magazine "with a national circulation went out of its way to belittle the people of Boston and sneeHngly published a photograph of a couple, of South Boston boys who were referred to as "tough" specimens. Did it ever occur to the editors of this magazine that they could have taken similar pictures of worse slums and of tougher specimens in New York, where the editors live, or in Chicago. or New Orleans or even in that typical American city, Memphis, Tenn., which has the worst homicide record of any city in the country? We find that similar magazines and i newspapers, some of them with semi- communistic connections, start a clamor of derision every time the Boston authorities attempt to clamp, the censorship on some particularly! vicipus, obscene new book." Apparently, in their opinion, there is no filth too foul to put in the hands of their children in the name of free speech or free press. Instead of attacking the sources of, publications that are intaminating the public mind with lihe 61th that seems to be a necessary |backlog for every -new "best seller," they deride the men who make an honest aUcmpl,to cleanse the atmosphere. We think it is high time that the various organizations representing Boston—church, cultural, civic, and even a business organisation such as the Chamber of Commerce—should baud together in a co-operative effort lo put an end to these loud speakers who come here and besmirch the good name of our city. We think it is not beyond the bounds of ordinary fairness that before such speakers are allowed to- make public their charges they should be made to verify the tatcntcnts as to facts. Perhaps if one or more of these false larms were hauled before a grand jury for libel or slander, they might be a bit more wary of making wild j charges. |
Source | American Jewish Historical Society-New England Archives, New England Historic Genealogical Society |
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