… Like a scene from Mr. Rushdie’s novel “Shalimar the Clown,” a knife-wielding man rushed onto the stage and began to stab him. Immediately audience members ran to the stage to defend him. It was a remarkable response. That rush of people leaping from their seats was the opposite of the so-called “bystander effect,” when individuals do nothing, relying on others to help. I would call it “the reader effect.” Reading creates empathy… The intuitive response of an empathetic community is to help.
(Henry Reese, “I Was Onstage With Salman Rushdie That Day, and What I Saw Was Remarkable,” NYTimes, 9-2-22)
In 1997, Henry Reese and his wife, Diane Samuels, founded Pittsburgh: City of Asylum, which provides a safe haven for persecuted writers, artists and journalists. Their program includes: “a rent-free home for two years or more if necessary, a stipend, legal counsel, medical benefits and access to professional development opportunities.”
As Mr. Rushdie said in 1997, it’s not just about his right to write; it’s also about our right to read.
(Henry Reese)
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