Poll: Jews closer to blacks, Hispanics on race issues

new york (jta) | Jews are likelier to agree with black and Hispanics than with whites when it comes to racial issues, a survey found.

Conducted in September and October by the Global Strategy Group for the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, the survey found that Jews and Hispanics are likelier than whites to see immigration as a positive, and that Jews join Hispanics and blacks in believing that ethnic groups do not mix enough, and that race relations are poor.

Solid majorities of Jews, blacks and Hispanics believe President Bush has done too little to improve race relations, while only 45 percent of whites believe that’s true. “The response of American Jewry reaffirms that this community is more sensitized and more realistic than is white America about the realities of racism and discrimination,” the foundation said in a statement. The foundation, led by Rabbi Marc Schneier and hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons, promotes intergroup relations.

Groups to discuss campus anti-Semitism at colleges

washington (jta) | Leaders of several American Jewish groups will discuss anti-Semitism on American college campuses with a U.S. panel.

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights will hold hearings this week on anti-Semitic incidents on college campuses. Speakers will include Susan Tuchman of the Zionist Organization of America, Sarah Stern of the American Jewish Congress and Gary Tobin of the Institute for Jewish and Community Research.

The commission, whose members are appointed by the president and Congress, investigates complaints of discrimination.

Spielberg Jewish Film Archive debuts Web site

washington (jta) | The Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive has launched a new, English-language Web site.

Visitors to the site, www.spielbergfilmarchive.org.il, can sample some of the 10,000 film and video titles held by the archive at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The vaults contain material shot in Israel before and after the establishment of the state in 1948, motion picture records of Jewish communities in the diaspora before and after the Holocaust, and two special collections relating to the Holocaust.

Religious freedom act gets congressional hearing

washington (jta) | A U.S. congressional panel heard testimony on a bill to increase religious freedom in the workplace.

“Nowadays we have a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week work environment that clashes with religious observances,” Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) said at last week’s session of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Employer-Employee Relations. “We as members of Congress have a responsibility to ensure people are able to freely practice. Asking a person to leave their religion at their door is something they should not be asked to do.”

PETA protests slaughterer

new york (jta) | Some animal-rights activists protested the practices of a kosher slaughterer — again.

This week’s protest by members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals at Kosherfest, the annual kosher market fair in New York, is part of the group’s long-standing campaign against Agriprocessors.

PETA has alleged that Agriprocessors, located in Iowa, violated kosher standards as well as federal law by slaughtering animals through cruel and inhumane means. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is investigating the Agriprocessors plant.