Minorities in U.S.A.

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32702, 3 September 1971, Page 14

Minorities in U.S.A.

Sir,—lf the Rev. J. D. Grocott has been correctly reported in today’s issue his statement that “minority groups who do not want to associate with the rest of society, such as Puerto Ricans, Spanish, Russians, and Jews are one of the main problems of the country,” is utter nonsense. Everyone knows that Puerto Ricans and Mexican-Americans encounter problems of assimilation and integration into a predominantly white society similar to those of Negro Americans. To state, however, that millions of American Jews do not want to associate with the rest of society is ludicrous. Anyone who has lived in New York City, where approximately a quarter of the population is Jewish, must be aware that Jews are an integral and fully assimilated part of American society. They are not Protestants any more than 30 million Catholics in the United States are, but this hardly justifies their being classed as a minority group who are one of the main problems of the country. —Yours, etc., ALAN CONWAY, Professor of American History, University of Canterbury. September 1, 1971.