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Reprinted from: MultiCultural Review, Summer, 2005
“Every time you read a book, someone else’s feelings meet yours, and mix with yours. You are always being affected by other people’s feelings; but books are the big way of bringing to a person the feelings he might never have otherwise.”
AB: This has everything to do with our conversation. Would you like to say what your plays are about? Education, Legislation, and RapI think it necessary to comment on how Americans should use the fact that the principal author of the Declaration of Independence was unclear about how to see black persons; that he spoke against slavery yet owned slaves; that there is DNA evidence for his being the father of [children] by his slave Sally Hemings. As our interview continued, I asked Congressman Owens about the relation of being a librarian and a Congressman. “As a librarian,” he said, “you’ve got to know a little bit about a whole lot and be able to assemble disparate facts. Being an elected official—I was in the State Senate before Congress—it’s the same challenge: you’ve got to know a little bit about a whole lot and weave it all together.” AB: What are some of the things you’re most proud of doing as a Congressman? MRO: The proudest thing I would cite is my steadfast interest in education and remaining on the committee. What I found is that the Education Committee of Congress is very unpopular. AB: Why is that? MRO: It’s unpopular because it’s not a money committee. You don’t make contacts with people who have money. Children don’t have money; teachers don’t. If you’re going to raise money for your campaigns you go into Commerce or Ways and Means. That’s unfortunate. In New York State we have only two people on the Education Committee, but if you’re going to be a watchdog on the problems that matter most to children, then that’s the place you need to be. I’ve been fortunate for the brief period that I served as chairman of the subcommittee on selected education, I was able to get a number of bills passed. I played a major role in the Americans With Disabilities Act which was a landmark piece of legislation and I’m proud of the fact that I had to do with that. AB: So there were no benefits to the families of the survivors? MRO: The Office of Education, OER for education improvement is a research arm of the Department of Education. I also conducted a reorganization study, and most of the items in the study we got passed. I’m very proud of that. Subsequent administrations, like the present one, wiped it out. But the law still exists. AB: You showed vividly that reading about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings—who lived 200 years ago—made for big feelings that, as Mr. Siegel stated, you couldn’t have had any other way. What would you like to say to encourage children to love reading? MRO: I would say: enjoy reading, have it become a habit, even a sport. Everything else you do is going to be impacted by being able to read and what you decide to read. I have three very young grandchildren who love the dinosaur books and the leap frog books—and I love reading to them. AB: The deviousness in seeming to give something and then not giving anywhere near what is deserved, is a study in itself. What does it mean to give full justice to something or someone? That is a question Aesthetic Realism is mighty interested in, and which I want to take seriously. I hope through the questions I ask and the comments I make, to be just to you. In Major Owens’s answer to my next question, he was describing the opposites at the heart of all multicultural education: oneness and manyness, concentration and expansion. MRO: Young people need a grasp of what the world is all about. It’s very important that we fought for multicultural programs in the schools; to start from their own heritage. We just haven’t been able to make that point strongly enough in the public schools. When a child starts from his own heritage, his sense of self-worth is bolstered and that helps with everything else. And so it’s very important that we create opportunities for them to learn more about their own heritage, regardless of who they are—and beyond that, the heritage of the world. It’s important that they not stop, if they are African-American, with just African history or concerns. Greece and Rome played a major role in our lives, too. One of my favorite books was Edith Hamilton’s The Greek Way. That’s a magnificent book. And don’t dismiss Shakespeare as being antiquated; there’s a tremendous combination of philosophy and emotion that you get out of Shakespeare that you can’t get anywhere else. It’s revered and it’s a powerful experience wrapped up in a drama that makes you remember the lessons of history. (Note: In the past three years the Congressman has secured $800,000 in Federal funds for the Brooklyn Public Library’s programs, including one which will help teens in 20 branches by providing internship opportunities and mentoring in public service agencies.) AB: What would you most like people to know about you? MRO: They I think I’m an introvert. I have no apologies for being an introvert, a dreamer, fascinated by challenging literary projects, but also fascinated by political and community action projects. I have been able to expand my own personality, habits, and talents in the political arena, so that I can be as much of an extrovert as anybody else when it’s necessary. I’m proud of the fact that I’ve mastered those techniques. And I don’t apologize for being introspective. In fact, one of the things that delights me most is writing rap poems which have become extensions of my remarks from the floor of the House. A rap poem is a style I like—a mischievous way of doing my public duty and at the same time enjoying it from the point of view of a writer. Rhythmic Expression to His Views Congressman Owens has given rhythmic expression to his views on many issues before the legislature, including the upheaval in Haiti, his passionate opposition to war, reducing drug prices for senior citizens, and more, for which the Americans for Democratic Action rated his 2003 voting record a perfect 100. For example, in opposition to proposed cuts in Head Start and other health and education programs, he wrote “The Nation Needs Your Lunch” which begins: In “Make Culture Not War,” he writes:Kids of America The greatest generation ![]() The Congressman Asks a Question Since Congressman Owens was so generous in answering my questions, I asked if there was anything he would like to ask me. “How long have you been studying Aesthetic Realism?” he asked. I told him I was born in Crown Heights Hospital—one of his earliest constituents. I came to know of this education early through my parents. As a student at Brooklyn College, I also began attending lectures given by Eli Siegel on poetry and all arts and sciences, and came to see Aesthetic Realism as the most beautiful, scientific education one could ever have. My husband, photographer David Bernstein, had accompanied me on this interview, and I mentioned that we both study now in professional classes taught by Chairman of Education Ellen Reiss at the not-for-profit Aesthetic Realism Foundation in New York City. “I’ve been married to this gentleman for 42 years,” I said. “We’ve been through many things, as most people have—including life and death matters. What we’ve learned is a means of our being deeper about the world, other people, and each other.” I can give an example. MRO: Please do. AB: I’ll say something about anger. We learned from Aesthetic Realism that you either use your anger in behalf of justice to the world and other people or in behalf of selfishness. Meantime, you went on to dedicate your life in many ways to fighting injustice in behalf of all people. That’s very important. So I’d like to know what made you feel that you wanted to oppose injustice? MRO: I like that. AB: It’s a beautiful, new idea. Along with reading about “Books,” in Children’s Guide to Parents, we’ve read from Eli Siegel’s essay “Being Angry" to youngsters in various cities. Children are excited to hear that there are two kinds of anger and are eager to talk about it. To show the difference, David talked about Martin Luther King having an anger against poverty, cruelty and injustice. That was a beautiful anger because it made people’s lives stronger. It’s completely different from an anger where we hurt people just to have our way. In speaking with African American children in Maryland, I was affected that when I mentioned Nelson Mandela, they didn’t know who he was. So I told them how he bravely fought against apartheid and brutality in South Africa and inspired people all over the world. I told the children that I’m grateful to Mr. Siegel for teaching how prejudice can really change, including in me, and that I regret that people whose skin looked like mine were so cruelly unjust to people whose skin looked like theirs. It did my life good to say it, and the children liked hearing it. “Wow, that’s something!” said Congressman Owens. “Congratulations. I’m glad you asked me questions, and I’m glad I asked you the questions I did.” Alice Bernstein is a journalist and Aesthetic Realism Associate whose articles and regular column “Alice Bernstein & Friends” appear nationwide; many are in the new book Aesthetic Realism and the Answer to Racism (www.OrangeAnglePress.com). To learn more, visit the website of the not-for-profit educational foundation: www.AestheticRealism.org. Top |