AESTHETIC REALISM ANSWER
TO RACISM AT INDEPENDENT BOOK FAIR IN NYC
Published in Caribbean Life, Omaha Star, Buffalo Criterion,
Kansas
State Globe and Missouri State Post
Co-authors of Aesthetic Realism and the Answer to Racism
(Orange Angle Press), Alice Bernstein and Allan Michael gave two
readings from this book at the 17th Independent & Small Press Book
Fair in New York City, Dec. 4-5. The fair was held in the beautiful
landmark General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen building in midtown.
It was organized by the nonprofit Small Press Center, and included 150
of “the most notable and distinctive books being produced in contemporary
publishing.”
Thousands of visitors viewed a wide selection of literature;
spoke with authors; heard talks on publishing history and the latest hi-tech
offerings of audio and e-books; saw a poetry film, a typewriter performance,
a post-election debate, and participated in various theatrical interactions.
Overview of one floor of the Independent
and Small Press Book Fair
Photo: David M. Bernstein
Panel discussions and readings included Jamel Shabazz’s
slide presentation, Capturing Hip-Hop; Christian Parenti’s discussion of
Dispatches from Afghanistan and Occupied Iraq; Melodies & Prose,
a discussion of the convergence of literature and music; Storytelling from
The
Moth; The Making of Brooklyn Noir, a collection of crime-fiction
stories; Howard Zinn's Voices of a People's History of the United States;
and Street Seen: Documenting Street Art.
In two featured author readings, Ms. Bernstein and Mr.
Michael discussed Aesthetic Realism and the Answer to Racism
– Articles Published Nationwide by
| Alice Bernstein & Others. They told of
how Eli Siegel, founder of the philosophy Aesthetic Realism, identified
the source of racism and every human injustice— contempt, the “addition
to self through the lessening of something else.” Racism, they said, does
not begin with race, but with the tendency to have contempt for the world,
for everything the self sees as different.
They gave instances from their own lives showing how through
study of Aesthetic Realism, contempt changes—not just into tolerance, but
into true respect for |
(l
to r) Richita Anderson, Allan Michael and Alice
Bernstein at Orange Angle Press table
Photo: David
M. Bernstein
|
others, and the conviction that we need the difference of
the world to be all we can be.
The book is an anthology of articles appearing in newspapers
here and abroad. Some chapters are: “A Latino Perspective” by Dr. Jaime
R. Torres; “India: The Amritsar Massacre,” in which Englishman, Christopher
Balchin, expresses regret for what was done in the name of the British
Empire; “The Answer to the Poverty and Prejudice Afflicting Native Americans,”
by Harvey Spears; and many chapters on the immensely successful Aesthetic
Realism Teaching Method, used by teachers at every grade level.
Allan Michael, a maritime captain and fine art photographer,
told the audience:
| Allan Michael: It is hard to be black in
this country and feel that justice is going to come your way, because black
people have endured horrific injustice for years, from slavery to racial
profiling. This has made for tremendous anger in our nation. For example,
I was angry and humiliated being stopped on Interstate 80 by a state trooper
for no apparent reason, as my private belongings were systematically strewn
out on the highway.
I know that Aesthetic Realism is the means to end racism.
Through what Eli Siegel explained, people of one background not only can
be fair to others, but can understand them. It was through the thought
of Eli Siegel, a white man, that I was able to understand the deepest things
in myself; and this points to a fundamental hope for all races.
One of the proudest experiences of my life took place
on August 16, 2002, the centenary of the birth of Eli Siegel, which was
proclaimed Eli Siegel Day in Baltimore where he grew up, by that city’s
mayor and the Governor of Maryland. That day, experts in education,
labor, and the arts, spoke about his contributions to knowledge and humanity,
at the dedication of the Eli Siegel Memorial in Baltimore’s Druid Hill
Park. I was proud to join Dr. Jaime R. Torres, educator Monique Michael,
and anthropologist Dr. Arnold Perey in speaking about how Aesthetic Realism
can end racism.
I feel intensely that how Aesthetic Realism sees the relation
of art and life is an emergency; and that for people of different races
to be at ease with each other, we need to see that the diversity of this
world, adds to us.
In beautiful prose, Mr. Siegel stated:
| “It will be found
that black and white man have the same goodnesses, the same temptations,
and can be criticized in the same way. The skin may be different, but the
aorta is quite the same.” |
Humanity will thank him as I do for teaching in Aesthetic
Realism how all people can honestly see each other with depth, kindness,
and respect. |
Alice Bernstein & Allan Michael
give reading from Aesthetic Realism
and the Answer to Racism at Independent
& Small Press Book Fair
Photo: David M. Bernstein
Next to speak was journalist Alice Bernstein, whose regular
column, “Alice Bernstein & Friends” is familiar to readers nationwide.
Congressman Elijah E. Cummings, Chair of the Congressional Black, has described
her as a person who has dedicated her life to using Aesthetic Realism as
a means to end racism, and said he believes Ms. Bernstein has contributed
significantly to promoting an increased understanding between races in
this country.
| Alice Bernstein: Aesthetic Realism is knowledge—thorough,
scholarly and utterly delightful—about reality itself. In recent years
I’ve describe what I learned about early instances of prejudice in my own
life, and the education that changed it. I began my study of Aesthetic
Realism as a very young girl, in lessons my family had with Eli Siegel.
We were learning the large meaning of “relations.” At age 10, I brought
to one lesson a picture of a Dutch girl with cap, apron, and wooden shoes.
Looking at it, Mr. Siegel said: "She represents you.” I was very surprised
because I was from Brooklyn and we were so different. He asked, “Could
she feel hemmed in like you?"
"Yes," I answered.
"Has she laughed at any jokes," he asked, "and cried after
arguing with her mother?" As I began to see her feelings as like my own,
this little girl, far away, became important to me, close to me, even dear
to me.
I was learning the way of seeing that makes for true pride
and I began to understand why I felt ashamed when I was unjust to any person—my
sisters, for instance, or a little boy whose skin looked different from
mine. Mr. Siegel explained what ordinary contempt could lead to, and I
came to see that yes, slavery is contempt; and contempt was the basis of
apartheid in South Africa and the conditions in the United States that
made the Civil Rights movement necessary.
I also saw something that made my respect for reality
and humanity increase enormously: the honesty of Eli Siegel and his utter
democracy as he talked to parents and children and people of whatever background
or skin color. His desire to know and be fair was huge, and I witnessed
it in hundreds of lectures he gave on world culture, art, science, and
history. And with all this vast knowledge, he said to a young child present
at a lesson with her parents, “I’m learning from you now. I learn from
everything that comes my way.”
When we see our importance as coming from what we can
learn from people different from ourselves, racism will be a thing of the
past. |
Orange Angle Press launched a new publication at this
fair: Four Essays on the Art of the Print by the esteemed artist
and educator Chaim Koppelman, in which he discusses works by Picasso, Daumier,
Hogarth, Munch, based on this Aesthetic Realism principle: “All beauty
is a making one of opposites, and the making one of opposites is what we
are going after in ourselves.”
To learn more, visit the publisher’s website: http://www.OrangeAnglePress.com;
and to find out about the education that takes place at the not-for-profit
Aesthetic Realism Foundation, contact (212) 777-4490, http://www.AestheticRealism.org |
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