By Donald H. Harrison


SAN DIEGO, Calif. — I hope the Jewish community, as a community, will speak up against the unfortunate ordinance passed last night by the suburban Escondido City Council to prohibit landlords from renting apartments to undocumented aliens.

The inevitable effect of this ordinance will be discriminatory.  A prospective renter will inquire whether there are any apartments available.  The landlord may ask, "I didn't catch your name, Mr.___?"

"Hernandez."

"Well, Mr. Hernandez, I'm so sorry.  We don't have any now available.  But perhaps we will in six months."

"I need an apartment now, not six months from now."

"Sorry."

A few moments later, the phone will ring again.  However, this time, the prospective renter's name will be Johnson, or Smith, or Harrison, or any other Anglo sounding name.  "Yes," the landlord will say, "we have one beautiful garden apartment available; so clean it looks like it has never been lived in."

As former victims of the practice, we Jews know how ugly housing discrimination can be.  For those who lived in San Diego County prior to the 1960s, even the name "La Jolla" can bring back the awful humiliation that accompanied refusals based upon our religious/ ethnic identity.

As a community, we must not stand by as it happens to Mexican-Americans or to other Americans of foreign birth.  We must speak out against this discriminatory practice and not be fooled by the rhetoric of the super-patriots who say that such ordinances are needed to combat the problem of illegal immigration.  There are federal laws, and federal agents, quite capable of dealing with non-citizens who have entered this country illegally. If they haven't taken action, it is not because local landlords somehow are responsible.  It is because the issue is far more nuanced than the Escondido nativists believe. People come here to work because they want to better themselves economically and to secure their family's futures.  If we want to stop illegal immigration from Mexico, let us share some wealth with that country to create well-paying jobs there.  In the meantime, local landlords should not be intimidated into becoming members of a posse.  Neighbor should not be set against neighbor.

At a very minimum, I hope that Jewish organizations like the Anti-Defamation League will intervene as "friends of the court" in the lawsuit that inevitably will be brought against the City of Escondido.  I hope also that organization after organization in the Jewish community, especially the Jewish Community Relations Committee of the United Jewish Federation as well as the American Jewish Committee will pass resolutions in opposition to Escondido's practice. I hope rabbis will speak out from their pulpits..  In short, I hope our community will show it means what it says when it cries, "Never Again."

Bigots tend to start small, to test the waters, to see what they can get away with.  If no protests are raised, they then will insist on something more sweeping, hoping that each step of the way, a compliant, acquiescent populace will grant them legitimacy by not protesting.  As we had wished other communities had come to our aid when our people were under attack in the Holocaust years, so too must we render similar aid to others.

As an individual, I make this pledge, small and symbolic though it may be.  I WILL NOT SHOP IN ESCONDIDO AS LONG AS THIS ORDINANCE REMAINS ON THE BOOKS.  The sales tax that I pay, whether for a new automobile or for a concert ticket or for any other item in a store will not support a city government that would discriminate against my fellow citizens. 

Never again!  Sí, se puede!