Where I STand: Broadbent, Mack helped spread the spirit of tolerance

Wednesday, June 4, 1997 | 10:33 a.m.

IT WAS A PROUD NIGHT for Las Vegas.

The Anti-Defamation League chose well last week when it selected former Airport Director Bob Broadbent and longtime Las Vegan Jerry Mack to honor at its annual Community Services Awards Dinner. For in those two individuals is the embodiment of what Las Vegas has been all about -- respect for each other and dedication to the idea that community is about giving back so that future Las Vegans will enjoy more than those who came before.

Bob and Jerry have led lives dedicated to the principle of fair play. In their own ways -- Bob through a lifetime of public service and Jerry through the banking business that almost single-handedly fueled a Las Vegas on the verge of greatness -- these two men have contributed to a community in proportions far greater than the benefits they have received.

Among the hundreds of people who enjoyed one of the warmest and neighborly dinners in quite some time, there were Jews, Mormons, Catholics, Hindus, Muslims and Christians of every other denomination, each determined to take from that evening the spirit of tolerance that is the hallmark of the ADL message.

There were many people who didn't know the vital mission that ADL plays in the quest to rid the world of intolerance and the ugliness that it engenders. And those who were familiar with the 80-year-old organization got a first-hand primer on its latest efforts to ferret out the bigots and racists who practice their evil in our cities, schools and neighborhoods with little organized opposition to their hate-filled messages.

Of course, like any other event of this kind, there were speeches. But one in particular was especially poignant because it remembered a Las Vegas relatively free of the ugliness of intolerance. It spoke of a time when people stood up against bigotry and racism. It talked of a way of life, one in which all people enjoyed a level of respect because they deserved it and in which people fought for the right to be different.

When Jerry Mack accepted his Lifetime Achievement Award from ADL he shared with that roomful of very different people the kind of city in which he grew up. I believe it is the kind of city each of us would like to have again. That is why I am reprinting Jerry Mack's remarks below:

"It is truly an honor to share this evening with Bob Broadbent. In my opinion, there isn't a more dedicated and more honest public servant than Bob. He has been and continues to be one of the great assets for Clark County and the state of Nevada.

"When I was a young boy growing up in Las Vegas and Boulder City in the early '30s, we were still feeling the effects of the Depression. There was no television. Radio reception was very difficult and we couldn't afford the dime for the theater. The only entertainment in town was the Mormon Church, the Methodist Church and the Boy Scouts and Sea Scouts. I joined them all.

"I went through primary at the Mormon Church, Pioneer Boys at the Methodist Church and the different scouting organizations.

"There was a Catholic Church across the street from our house and Father Lamb was the priest with very few parishioners. He was at our house more than he was at the church and became one of our family's closest friends. He and I would sit for hours having long conversations.

"In this community of 15,000 people, I never felt any anti-Semitism, bigotry or prejudice. Las Vegas was a melting pot and we were all out here surviving together.

"As an example of how we dealt with prejudice, there was a day when my dad was in a bar with Bob Kaltenborn. A new guy in town came into the bar and said, 'I don't want to sit here with this Jew.' Bob, who wasn't Jewish, got up and smashed him in the face, knocking his teeth out. The guy got his teeth fixed, stayed in town, became a prominent Realtor and a good friend of my father. In the early days people became converted very quickly.

"When I graduated from Las Vegas High School, the Sigma Chi fraternity from the University of Nevada started rushing me. I decided to go to UCLA instead of UNR and when I arrived I thought I wanted to join Sigma Chi. I liked the song, 'She's the Sweetheart of Sigma Chi.' They told me they didn't take Jews, that there was a Jewish fraternity down the street that would take me.

"It was the first time I felt anti-Semitism.

"Later, after I joined the service, my senior officer was a guy named Mac Connell. He constantly harassed me because he resented the fact that I was a Jew who carried the name 'Mack.'

"The arrival of Nellis Air Force Base to the Las Vegas area marked not only increased population and economic opportunity but, also, the first real introduction of racism and anti-Semitism to the area.

"After World War II, as Las Vegas grew, we started becoming like any other community. Incidences of bigotry and prejudice became more and more prevalent. In the '50s and '60s, my children felt the anti-Semitism that I never felt.

"In our years of banking, if people were anti-Semitic, Parry Thomas would fight my battles for me. We were known then as the Jewish-Mormon-Catholic bank -- the Bank of Minorities!

"It is a shame that the town couldn't have stayed the way it was when I was a kid. There were only a handful of us then and now we're a community of well over a million people. We always thought we were immune from the narrow-minded thinking of the big cities. But, now, Las Vegas is just like any other big city with all the prejudices and bigotry that accompany a community of this size.

"That is why I support the Anti-Defamation League, which is a strong instrument to combat bigotry, prejudice and anti-Semitism."

The message is clear. If Las Vegas and every other city in this country were like the place where Jerry Mack grew up, there would be no need for the ADL. That dinner the other night was just like the small town Jerry remembers from his childhood. People who cared for each other and protected one another breaking bread and enjoying each other for their differences as much as their similarities. That was a start.

But until we grow up all the way back to those tolerant early days, we must help ADL and the good job it does. Their unwavering support of the Anti-Defamation League is just one more reason why Bob Broadbent and Jerry Mack are very good for Las Vegas.

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