Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 23 October 1998 — Page 7
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23,1998
THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER
RAPE AT
Opinions
Where racism begins
By ALICE BERNSTEIN
As reports of brutal racial hatred—including the horrifying
mockery at a recent parade of the murder of a Texas man—are so vivid in everyone’s mind, it is urgent that people everywhere know that Aesthetic Realism, the philosophy founded in 1941 by Eli Siegel, the great American educator and poet, explains the cause of racism and can permanently end it The cause Is contempt, de--fined by Mr. Siegel as “the addition to self through the lessening of something else.” Contempt I learned, is ordinary: a child teasing another child; a wife sarcastically interrupting her husband; a man thinking he is smarter and more sensitive than his neighbor. And it is the basis of our economic system in which a person’s labor provides profit for someone else. Contempt Aesthetic Realism explains, is the cause of every injustice-ftom ethnic slurs and
ridicule to the deadly forms of racism, bombs, war.
Ellen Reiss, Class Chairman of Aesthetic Realism, explains in the international periodical. The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known, why in our failed economy, racism is on the rise:
Be Known, why in our failed economy,
“A person who is white looks at a person whose skin is darker
and feels T am better than you’ for one reason alone: people want to think well of themselves, and an easy way of seeming to think well of yourself is to make less of what is not you. Because contempt for a person looking different is always contempt for a world we dislike, racism can be more flagrant as people are made to worry about jobs and money....The big thing people have not known about racial prejudice is that it does not begin with race. It begins
with the world itself, and how one sees the world.” Miss Reiss explains the fight in a representative girl, Heather,
about how to see the world: “The purpose of Heather’s life-what she, as a tiny baby... was bom for-was to respect the world, like it. That means, to feel things and people in all their difference from her were related to her too: they could add to her, make her more herself through wanting to know and value them. But within Heather and all of us there was and is another possibility: the false, hurtful dealing with sameness and difference which is contempt.”
And Ellen Reiss describes how a girl becomes a racist: “Headier
heard someone use a crude, demeaning word about a person of another race. That word appealed to her. And the first time she used it...she had a thrilL.of feeling that in one swift utterance she had put in its place not only a person but the world different horn
her....The horrible way Heather saw Black people continued be-
: her desire to have contempt for a world not I
cause her desire to have contempt for a world not herself continued. Now she is 1S. With some friends, she has spray-painted ugly words on a church attended by African Americans in her town.” The only alternative to contempt is in this mighty principle which Aesthetic Realism is based on: “The world, art and self explain each other: each is the aesthetic oneness of opposites.” I am so grateful that as a person learns to see the world and himself as having a structure of opposites, the difference of others is seen as friendly; something to know and be fair to. Learning from Aesthetic Realism how to criticize contempt and to see other people’s feelings from within-as real and vital as ours are to us-is the most
thrilling, scientific education on earth! When people learn to see in this way, new kindness will exist, people will reel honestly proud;
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su-
and racism will eild. ^ SAW
‘ This fact, I am fnfinifeiyigfettAil to fctyrttrutun my IlftM Child, without knowing if,‘ I hoped to be important by feeling perior to others and this desire made me unkind both to people I knew-like my sister, whose looks and manners were different from mine-and people I didn’t know. I deeply regret that I once called a little boy an ugly name because his skin looked different from mine. The memory of his pained face fills me with shame even after all these years. I don’t know how my life would have gone if my parents had not begun to study Aesthetic Realism, but I thank
reality with all my heart that they did.
What my family had the honor to learn in lessons conducted by Eli Siegel, men, women and children are learning now in consultations in person and by telephone worldwide, from the faculty of the not-for-profit Aesthetic Realism Foundation in New; York City: that our deepest desire is to like the world honestly, and every person is a rich opportunity to do this-a new chance for self-
respect.
In these magnificent sentences, Eli Siegel shows the exciting and beautiful relation of sameness and difference in people of all while working in a space of not more than twenty-five
races:
inches or so-that is, the human face-has come to have so many faces, feminine and masculine, child and adult. They are all different. We can assume that every Paleolithic face was different, also Neolithic, also Roman face, Chinese face, Greek face,
Mesopotamian face; and just how it’s done is remarkable. Any person trying to imagine five hundred faces will find it very hard,
but somehow nature has been able to have tremendous-inconceivable variety.” And Mr. Siegel so exactly and kindly explains the essential likeness in all humanity: “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.” I love the study of Aesthetic Realism for enabling the kindness and justice of these words to become alive, real, warm, in every home and street; in every human heart. This is die education that can make the horror of racism a thing of the past. And so I urge everyone to contact the not-for-profit Aesthetic Realism Foundation, at 141 Greene St., New York, NY10012(212) 777-4490; and see the website at www.AestheticRealism.org to learn how this can occur as soon as possible.
Note: Alice Bernstein has written on Aesthetic Realism as the knowledge that can end racism, in relation to apartheid in South Africa and films by Euzhan Palcy of Martinique; and how Aesthetic Realism answers the deepest questions of love and the family. She and her husband, photographer David Bernstein, have the honor to study in classes taught by Ellen Reiss, the Class Chairman of Aesthetic Realism.
LETTERS
f ' • , Y . ' ' r ' • • - - • - • _ 1 ' Why should we vote November 3rd?
Dear Editor
Polls report apathy among voters blamed partly on President Clinton. Should we vote Novem-
ber 3rd?
Although President Clinton's * White House escapades have been called reprehensible and immoral, what he did was no different than most presidents before him. But President Clinton, unlike previous presidents, was entrapped by Kenneth Starr and his right wing associates using spy techniques and put on display before the entire world in an effort to destroy him. This was used only because no criminal activity could be related to the real purpose of the QIC investigation: Whitewater, Travelgate, Filegate, Vince Foster Suicide,
Rose Law Firm.
The consequences of this and die subsequent impeachment effort by a Republican-controlled Congress could be catastrophic. But the Republican-controlled Congress seems more interested in impeachment than in what is best for our country and the world. This in spite of authoritative opinions, such as that of Lawrence Tribe, Harvard Professor of Constitutional Law, that Clinton’s actions were, not bribery, treason or other high crimes and misdemeanors required by the constitution for purposes of
impeachment
Unfortunately, President Clinton may go down in history as the third president to be impeached. But he will also be remembered for his efforts for bet-
for gun control and less crime, for protecting social security, for a better health system, and for a fearless fight derailed by the Republican Congress against the death delivery system of big tobacco. He was instrumental in saving the Mexican economy, in brokering the peace in North Ireland, in stopping the fighting in Bosnia and is close to helping achieve a Mideast peace. President Gerald Ford recently called President Clinton “a leader of rare gifts” and suggested a Con-
VOTE. To defeat the ChristianCoalition and protect our rights and freedoms under the Constitution, WE MUST VOTE. To avoid a
gressional rebuke and then letting MUST VOTE. To protect and him getback to work-for the good dnue Social Security, WE
of the country- but no impeach-
ment.
The upcoming November third election is one of the most important in the history of the UJ5. If we
want continued prosperity and cess, WE MUST VOTE,
jobs. If we want to achieve racial equality, WE MUST VOTE. If we want less guns in the hands of convicts and less crime,WE MUST VOTE. If want less kids to smoke and die, WE MUST VOTE. If we want better education for all, WE
j must)
M, Herbert Nathan,
MJD. and
Conference, N.A.A.GP.
Indiana Black Expo can market the Classic
Dear Editor
promote the Classic with limited funding. The good news is we have a jump-start on next
This is in response to die Amos Brown editorial years marketing strategy. The teams have been se-
ter race relations and equality, for in the October9,1998 Indianapolis Recorder. Amos lected for the 1999 game, and we are confident that appointing more minority people expressed a concern about Indiana Black Expo’s Hampton University mid Southern University will to high government positions than ability to market this years Coca-Cola Circle City deliver another sell out crowd in the RCA Dome,
any other president, for improving Classic. First, we must clarify that IBE and the lndithe economy and balancing a bud- ana Sports Corporation share the responsibility of get that had ballooned to more than marketing the Classic. Nonetheless, neither organi$300 billion under successive Re- zation should shoulder the blame of why the Clas-
sic was not a sell out
Acouple of reasons can be sited to what contrib-
publican regimes, in striving for better educational opportunities,
Also, IBE is currently seeking additional funding from various resources to increase the level of marketing of Summer Celebration and the Classic in the
regional markets.
IBE welcomes input on how to improve die marketing and promotions of IBE/ISCevents. Weespe-
D«|Mty ProMWtor
uted to the attendance being below 62,000. First .dally invite you to lend your expertise to making
the teams were selected at a later date than usual next year’s Classic a success,
because of team scheduling conflicts. Moreimpor-
tantty, it i*Ytyy diffi^h to iperease and adequately TVylerjenkins ‘' * “ v, ‘ n * v ‘ 3,11 * n 1 • * WtfHcAiu Ltsu» tutogoiq
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Dear Editor
This letter is written in response to a letter published in your newspaper on October 16,1998, which was written by Rev. Solomon. Rev Solomon stared in his letter in regard to the killing of Joseph Maul by a bail bond recovery agent that L as a Marion County Deputy Prosecutor, said “They can basically take whatever steps they need to apprehend the ‘field darkies,’ even muider.” That statement is wholly and completely false. I am outraged at his assertion that I used the term “field darkies’’ and stated that “murder” could ever be permissible under any circumstances. If anyone cares to make the effort to determine for themselves if I ever made such statement, I gave two interviews to the news media regarding the shooting of Mr. Maul. One was done jointly with John Masson, Indianapolis Star, Cheryl Miller, WIBC, and Heidi Heimick, Channel 39. A second interview was with Jane Harrington, Channel 13.1 encourage anyone who is interested in the truth to ask them if I ever made any such statement or anything like it Also, the man who killed Joseph Maul has been criminally charged with the homicide and is being prosecuted. In addition to being libelous, false assertions of this type can only be intended to promote racial mistrust and bigotry. I have spent
, ':i H 'i ,,, j V.JX VOTE FOR
in. /•
JUDGE JUDIE
Experience Fairness Integrity
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•••»
WRITING TO THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER
people who have committed crimes in our community without regard to race, color or creed. Neither the race of the victim or the defendant has any bearing on my flMfe^.pefCtyWionOTperfprnMnog of my job. False assertions such as those made by Rev. Solomon are morally wrong, un-Christian and only serve to add fuel to a fire that those of ns who are attempting to promote racial harmony are trying to put out.
JUDIE HAWLEY CONLEY JUDGE LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP SMALL CLAIMS COURT
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Sincerely John V. C
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