Note: BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member Chuck Turner is writing this column
from the U.S. Federal Prison in Hazelton, West Virginia
where he is serving a three year term for a bribery conviction. BC is in contact with Mr. Turner by email and telephone.
Click here to send an email message that BC can pass on to Chuck.
Note
from Chuck about this column: It contains three parts.
The first part is a brief overview of the writing
I will do beginning in November on my cosmological views
and the connection of those views to my work in the past
and my work in the future.
The
second is a very short personal narrative for the Harvard
'62. I am sharing it as an short overview of my last 48
years.
The
third is a short piece i wrote for the Boston annual meeting
of United for Justice and Peace, giving my perspective on
"fighting the power" on the national, and global
level.
Part
1
I
don't remember hearing discussions about God and religion
as a young child . My family went to church regularly at
St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Cincinnati, Ohio but I
can't remember hearing or participating in discussions about
religion. Yet, I seem to have always had a belief in a loving
God. Perhaps that heartfelt belief was inspired by Cincinnati
with its lush rolling hills, its beautiful parks, the beautiful
flowers of spring and summer, and the changing colors of
the leaves in the fall. Even the winter had its own special
beauty.
To
me, it was obvious there had to be a God. All this beauty
couldn't be happening by chance. As I grew older, I learned
that the Native Americans who had lived in the area thought
that the river valley was a very special place and built
mounds to bury their dead along the Ohio. Also, I learned
that the earth was part of a system of planets whirling
in order around the sun that provided all the wonders that
we had on the earth. Not only was there beauty and order
but a productive rhythm to life that provided what we needed.
Even
St. Andrew's Church where we went every Sunday to worship
had a sense of peace and serenity that reinforced the idea
of a loving God. When I turned nine, I decided that I wanted
to strengthen my relationship with this loving, creative
power and became an acolyte as part of the group of young
men assisting the priest in conducting the services. Almost
every Sunday for the next nine years, I assisted the priest
at the morning communion service as well as participated
in the regular Sunday service.
What
marred this sense of order, beauty, and serenity was the
life outside the church. Nature was supportive, people were
hostile. While I don't remember family discussions about
religion, I do remember many, many discussions about race,
discrimination, and the treatment that we endured from whites
who seemed to believe that we were by nature inferior to
them. What was particularly strange to me was that many
of these people called themselves Christians.
How
could anyone who believed in God and Jesus think that anyone
was by nature inferior. In the Old Testament, God said that
as human beings, we are created in God's image. Jesus said
that the divine powers he was demonstrating, we would demonstrate.
He didn't say only if you were European. In fact, he was
not European himself despite the pictures. He was a middle
eastern Jew. This whole situation just did not make any
sense. Sometimes, I felt like I was in an insane asylum
that the inmates were running.
My
family had raised me to think; to try to understand what
I saw and experienced; to seek answers for what I couldn't
understand; and if others could not answer my questions
to my satisfaction to do the work to get the answers myself.
I wanted to understand what was going on. I needed to know
why these people thought they could get away with treating
us so bad and acting like they thought we were not as good
as them. But that wouldn't be enough. I wanted answers to
basic questions: Where does the spirit that they talk about
in the Bible come from; why are we here on the earth; where
does our spirit go after we die. I wasn't satisfied with
the response, "That's not for us to know".
With
answers to those questions, I thought could begin to figure
out what was going on. Unfortunately, while I went to an
excellent college preparatory high school in Cincinnati
and to Harvard College, I didn't get any answers to my basic
questions. In fact, rather than get answers to explain the
crazy behavior we experienced as African-Americans, it seemed
that the purpose of the education was to justify if not
glorify a society and a people that seemed barbaric and
uncivilized.
After
graduation from Harvard, I joined the Northern Student movement
and began work in Harlem organizing rent strikes. While
the work was hard and demanding, I loved it and decided
that organizing African-Americans to confront our oppression
would be the best way for me to repay my debt to my ancestors
who had laid the foundation for our fight against oppression.
While organizing wouldn't eliminate the view that we were
inferior, there would be tangible benefits. At the very
least, we would better our conditions, demonstrate to ourselves
and others our capability to create new realities, and build
a foundation from which future generations could continue
our fight for justice and recognition as human beings.
Despite
concrete accomplishments, I continued to be frustrated with
the lack of an intellectual framework to confront the doctrine
of white male supremacy as well as the internalized oppression
that was a clear and present obstacle in every organizing
initiative. I hungered to understand why in a system created
by a loving God, there was so much hate. Then in the fall
of 1973, one of those magic moments occurred that put me
on the path to satisfy my hunger. I could not have imagined
that when Hakim, a friend who was studying at MIT, came
into my office one day and said he had some books for me,
he was offering me the key to unlock a treasure chest that
had what I needed to understand what was going on.
Hakim
gave me three books. One was the Rosicrucian Cosmo Conception,
written in 1909 by Max Heindel, leader of the Rosicrucian
organizational, headquartered in California. The second
one was the Mystical Kabala written in 1924 by Dion Fortune,
an English psychologist who real name was Violet Firth who
was a leader in the English occult movement of the early
and middle 1900s. The third was The Cosmic Doctrine published
by Dion Fortune in 1930. In acknowledging that the content
of the book was a psychic transmission from a higher energy
dimension, she says:
"I
feel I am the last person to be able to form an opinion
as to the nature of the experience here recorded....I know,
however, that I could not have written any work at the pace
at which it was produced. When it is realized that each
chapter took from three quarters of an hour to an hour and
a quarter to dictate, and that no other work whatever went
into its production, I think it will be seen that this book
was not produced by the ordinary labor of the brain."
As
I read the three books, I realized that each author was
describing h/er view of the manifestation of the universe
and its relationship to its Creator and to the development
of human consciousness. While I could understand parts of
each, I realized that it would take a monumental effort
to even begin to decipher and understand the inner meaning
of one, let alone all three. As I debated whether it would
be worth the effort even to try, the story of the Rosetta
stone came to mind.
In
1799, an engineer who was part of Napoleon's invasion of
Egypt discovered a slab of stone approximately two and a
half feet wide and four feet long which had been part of
a monument to one of the Egyptian pharaohs. On it was carved
a tribute in hieroglyphics (Egyptian picture language),
Egyptian script writing of that period, and Greek. When
Napoleon's troops withdrew from Egypt in 1801, they took
the Rosetta stone with them for further study. Over the
next thirty years, European scholars used their understanding
of the Greek and of Coptic writing similar to the Egyptian
script on the stone to decipher the hieroglyphics.
Since
each of the three books, given by Hakim, were focused on
the questions haunting my mind, it seemed that the effort
to understand all three could give me a picture of the operation
of the universe and solar system, their creation, and purpose.
Obviously that understanding would free me from the frustration
and confusion that had become a life companion. I didn't
know how long it would take or even if I could ever accomplish
the task. However, I've always believed that "Nothing
beats a failure but a try" so I decide it would be
worth the effort to try to decipher my "Rosetta stone."
As
I struggled to understand the meaning of each of the books,
I began to reach out for other books on the occult (hidden)
and the esoteric aspects of religion that I thought might
help me understand what I was reading. This led me to read
Rudolph Steiner's Outline of Esoteric Science, describing
the evolution of the earth and its four kingdoms: mineral,
plant, animal, and human; Madame Helena Petrova Blavatsky's
the Secret Doctrine, her two volume work on esoteric Buddhism;
Alice Bailey's The Consciousness of the Atom, describing
the relationship between the development of consciousness
in the atom, the human, the earth, and the sun.
Other
helpful books were Col. A.E. Powell's five volume work on
theosophy, describing the development of the solar system
and its relationship to the four energy bodies of human
kind: the etheric, the astral/emotional, the mental, and
the causal; Annie Besant's A Study in Consciousness, detailing
the evolution of human consciousness; the Three Initiates
work on the teachings of Hermes, the Egyptian sage; The
Tree of Life by Israel Regardie, the most definite outline
of the western theory of magic and its relationship to the
tree of life; and most recently Metu Neter: 1,2,3, and 4
the work by Ra Un Nefer Amen on the Ausarian religion of
Kamit (ancient Egypt) among many, many other books by these
and other authors.
I
reference these writings to make clear that what I am going
to share is not based on some personal, divine revelation.
Rather it has emerged from decades of study, meditation,
and attempts to use the teachings in my life and work. While
most of the authors quoted above have gained much of their
insights through clairvoyance or trance, I have not developed
those talents. However, what I will share is validated in
my mind by fact that it is supported by at least two writings
of those who possessed those talents. That is why I view
my almost four decades of research as an exploration of
spiritual science.
Until
this moment, I have avoided publicly discussing my studies.
As an organizer, my responsibility was to help facilitate
the thought and actions of groups focused on achieving their
shared objectives. Given that responsibility, I didn't want
to distract the group(s) by introducing ideas that were
certain to be controversial. I have used the information
for inspiration and guidance in my work, waiting for the
moment that seemed appropriate to begin a more public discussion.
Given
my arrest, conviction, incarceration, and their effect on
my ability to work as an organizer when I come out of prison,
I believe the moment is now. Also, I am encouraged to be
more public about my studies based on the experience of
participating in a study group here at Hazelton that is
providing me feedback on my ideas as well as stimulating
me through the thinking of the group's members.
My
initial target audience is those who see themselves as activists;
participants in what is often termed the progressive movement.
I have always been somewhat uncomfortable with that term
because it doesn't define the type of progress sought. I
prefer to think of the world wide body of progressive activists
as members of a movement focused on the evolution and expansion
of human consciousness. To me, the consciousness that under
girds the variety of organizing encompassed by the progressive
movement is the realization that as a human species we have
a responsibility to be concerned about the welfare of all
and the creation of a just and equitable society throughout
the world.
Through
it's organizing, the progressive movement is in essence
seeking the expansion of human consciousness. We are attempting
to help more and more of the human species recognize that
we are "Our brothers' and sisters keepers'". Therefore,
I hope that I will be able to help provide an intellectual
and spiritual foundation for the spread of that consciousness.
The spread and evolution of the consciousness of our human
interconnectedness is, I believe, the next great step forward
for human kind. Darwin's concept of evolution focused on
biology. To his concept must be added that of mental evolution--the
expansion of human consciousness.
I
have three objectives in beginning to discuss the results
to date of my forty year quest. First, I hope I will be
able to help those of us who are trying to help expand human
consciousness enlarge our concept of the capabilities of
human beings as a species. We use the word empowerment.
However, to help people appreciate and use the potential
powers that we all have, we need to be clear on what is
the range of those powers.
I
believe that the teachings of esoteric science can help
strengthen us to meet Dr. King's challenge to confront and
overcome the three evils: racism, militarism, and materialism.
At the moment, I do not think that we have a strong intellectual
framework to help us displace the cultural and psychic foundations
of racism, sexism, and classism. I believe that as we develop
the ability to see through the veil of our material form
and appreciate ourselves as energy beings composed of etheric,
emotional, mental, and spiritual energy experiencing life
in a material form, we will be able to cut through the illusion
of all the isms that keep us from uniting as a human family.
As
we build and strengthen our understanding that this material
phase of our evolution is just a part of our journey from
unconsciousness to super consciousness as a human species,
simultaneously we will strengthen our ability to see through
the illusions and delusions of materialism and its numerous
pitfalls along our evolutionary path. Similarly, as we develop
an appreciation that the objective of our evolution on earth
is not only to discover the true Self that resides within
each of us but also to recognize our oneness with each other
and with God in whose image we are formed as energy beings,
we will realize that war is a mental aberration growing
out of the material illusion of separateness.
My
third objective is to encourage each of you to begin your
own search for Self. I do not expect or want you to accept
what I am sharing as your Truth. I share what I have discovered
and how I discovered it to encourage you to look beyond
the walls of your present understandings of reality. While
I encourage you to explore the books that I have mentioned,
I understand that there are others that may be the key to
open the treasurer chest of your own knowledge of Self.
The key to Self discovery is your desire to Know and Understand
who you are. Once that flame burns brightly in your heart,
it will lead you to answers for questions you haven't even
asked.
In
ancient Greece in the town of Delphi, the Oracle (priestess)
located in the Temple of Apollo was acclaimed as the most
gifted of all who prophesied. Over the entrance to the Oracle's
chamber, there was an inscription, "Know Thyself!"
To me, the inscription's purpose was to warn the person
entering that even though the Oracle would give information
regarding the future, it's value lay not in telling you
what to do. It's value was to help you develop your ability
to know within yourself what to do and how to do it. True
knowledge comes from within not from without. While others
can share the experiences of their journey to discover Self,
each of us has h/er own path to Self discovery if we choose
to walk it.
Included
at the end of this reflection are two additional reflections:
A personal narrative for the Harvard College, Class of 1962
fiftieth reunion on my lifetime of organizing; and a statement
for the United for Justice and Peace annual meeting regarding
our need for confidence in our eventual triumph in the struggle
for justice and peace.
Beginning
in November, my reflections will appear on the third Thursday
of each month.
Peace,
chuck
Part
2
Chuck
Turner Harvard College, Class of 1962 fiftieth reunion
When
I left Harvard with my BA degree in 1963, I had two goals.
The first was to fulfill my family commitment to use my
skills to continue the 350 year struggle for liberation
of my people - African-Americans. The other was the more
mundane goal of obtaining a law degree as a tool in the
pursuit of my first goal.
After
a year of organizing rent strikes in Harlem as part of the
Northern Student Movement, I abandoned my law school objective.
I had fallen in love. While I found organizing to be challenging,
demanding, and often frustrating, I realized there would
be no more fulfilling way of repaying my debt to my ancestors
than devoting my life to organizing. While I have had many
different jobs and participated in an even greater number
of volunteer community initiatives, organizing has always
been at the center of my work.
As
my appreciation of the depth and breadth of oppression in
this country grew and my understanding of the spiritual
oneness of all human beings broadened, my definition of
the term "my people" expanded to include the whole
human family. However, there is one thing that hasn't changed
over the decades of organizing. The thrill of seeing people
create new realities through the linking of their physical,
emotional, mental, and spiritual energies is as powerful
and fulfilling for me today as it was during my first rent
strike campaign forty eight years ago.
Of
the many accomplishments achieved through organizing, the
accomplishment of which I am proudest is the 1982 approval
by the Supreme Court, led by Judge Renquist, of the constitutionality
of the Boston Jobs Policy. This policy, incorporated into
a Boston Mayoral Executive Order in 1979, grew out of an
organizing initiative I launched in 1976 to link affirmative
action for people of color and women to the right of local
workers of all races to have a guaranteed share of the jobs
on city financed or supported construction projects.
In
1999, frustrated with what I viewed as a low level of community
organizing in Boston, I decided to run for a position on
the Boston City Council, representing my community. My objective
was to demonstrate the tangible benefits of linking community
based organizing to political representation through establishing
a personally financed district office and sponsoring monthly
"Roundtables" to bring together constituents and
community activists to discuss policy and strategy development.
Among
the many accomplishments during my eleven years in office,
there are two that standout in terms of their lasting impact
not only on Boston but also on the entire state. One is
the organizing of the Boston Workers' Alliance (BWA) as
a community based labor organization. This initiative grew
out of a decision by the Board of our Roundtable in 2005
to focus on the organizing of unemployed workers in our
community, particularly those with criminal records given
the job discrimination they were experiencing.
In
2009, after four years of support by my district office,
the BWA opened its own office. Today, they have a staff
five, two offices, one for their political arm and the other
for their staffing agency. Their major accomplishment to
date was providing leadership in the passage of legislation
in 2010 which among other reforms within the criminal justice
system took the question regarding criminal records off
the state employment application and eased the requirements
for having criminal records sealed.
The
second major accomplishment was the passage in 2010 of legislation
providing assistance to owners facing foreclosure as well
as tenants in foreclosed properties. The legislation's major
feature was enabling tenants to maintain residency in foreclosed
buildings as long as they paid rent, thus ending the practice
of financial institutions closing down properties after
foreclosure until a new owner could be secured.
This
legislation grew out of an organizing initiative in 2006
that I led sponsored by the Rainbow Caucus of the Massachusetts
Green-Rainbow Party. Beginning with a core of three organizations,
the Massachusetts Alliance Against Predatory Lending grew
into a statewide coalition and led the fight that resulted
in the passage of the legislation. Both of these initiatives
bear witness to the organizing axiom that when faced with
oppressive conditions, don't complain, organize.
The
effectiveness of the Roundtable model of representation
and its work in challenging the status quo locally and nationally
was demonstrated when a close ally of the Bush administration,
Michael Sullivan, while the US Attorney of Massachusetts,
targeted me in a sting operation designed to enhance his
political career. Unfortunately, the jury was bamboozled
by his plot and convicted me of four crimes which I did
not commit: extortion of $1000 (from the person they hired
to operate the sting) and three counts of lying to FBI officers.
Based on the conviction, I will not be able to be with you
at our 50th anniversary since I am serving a 36 month sentence
at USP Hazelton in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia.**
As
I look back over my forty eight years of organizing, I feel
blessed to have been able to spend my entire adult life
fighting for justice. I plan to continue this fight after
my release in 2013. Needless to say, I am frustrated by
my present circumstances but view my incarceration as an
opportunity to strengthen myself before I return to the
battlefield. Despite the momentary personal set back, I
continue to believe in our capacity to create a just society
in this country.
*I
took a leave of absence during my senior year and did not
graduate until 1963.
**I
wrote Anatomy of a Frame Up in 10 parts this this summer
to give my perspective on my 2 and 1/2 year struggle with
the Justice Department. Click here to
read any part in this BC series.
Part
3
This
is a short piece i wrote for the Boston annual meeting of
United for Justice and Peace, giving my perspective on "fighting
the power" on the national, and global level.
No Justice, No Peace!
I
wish I could be with you in person today. However, I want
to thank Duncan for making it possible for me to communicate
with you through the written word. I also want to thank
UJP as an organization and your members for the energy and
commitment that you have put into our struggle for peace
and justice here in Boston.
I
heard that we may even be able to celebrate defeating Boston
University's attempt to build a bio 4 laboratory in Boston.
This would be a significant victory and encourage other
communities to fight bio 4 labs in their communities. I
believe that the fight should not just be to keep them out
of our back yard but to stop their proliferation entirely.
Such
a victory would also parallel for me the biblical story
of David and Goliath. When a handful of residents and activists
decided to fight the lab almost a decade ago, people laughed
at us. Yet, that didn't stop us because we knew we had a
responsibility to speak truth to power, regardless of the
odds.
Brothers
and sisters, that is the message that I want to share with
you today. We must not waver in our fight to create a just
and peaceful world. We must continue to reach out to our
fellow citizens whether they live in Weston, South Boston,
Somerville, or Roxbury and ask them to stand with us despite
their possible doubts and fears.
Let
us strengthen our resolve by remembering our heroes and
heroines of past struggles who refused to be intimidated
by the breadth and strength of the opposition. Remember
it was only fifty years ago when the sit-iners, Freedom
riders, and demonstrators defied fire hoses, angry mobs,
and other dangers while facing the resistance of those who
declared that the South would never be integrated.
Let
us remember Dr. King's challenge to us to move beyond past
victories to fight the three evils of militarism, racism,
and all the other isms, as well as the materialism that
turns us into predators. Let us never forget that he consciously
sacrificed his life to lead not only a national but also
a global struggle that he believed would result in future
generations living in peace and celebrating their ancestors'
courageous refusal to give up the struggle for peace and
the demand for justice.
It's
easy to feel disheartened, discouraged, and even defeated
as we face the seeming ability of the oligarchy to maintain
it's strength despite the chaos it is creating at home and
abroad. Yet it is our responsibility to inspire our people
to look beyond the chaos of the moment and focus on the
future we have to create by building a mental, emotional,
physical, and yes spiritual foundation for global social
and economic cooperation based on the principles of love
and respect for our fellow human beings. We have to commit
ourselves to building the new as the old crumbles under
the weight of its own evil.
Let
me close with the thought that one of the more serious threats
to our efforts is ironically our own criminal justice system,
so called. Over the last four decades, the number of incarcerated
in this country has quintupled, growing from approximately
400,000 in the early 70s to 2.3 million today, including
over one million black men and women. Our country has the
dubious distinction of having the highest percentage in
the world of our general population and as well as people
of color incarcerated.
The
driving force of this national disgrace are the prosecutors
who are legally insulated from any accountability. At the
federal level, the FBI and the federal prosecutors continue
their historical process of targeting those who stand up
for justice and equity with no risk since prosecutors can
not be criminally charged for their misconduct. Let us remember,
peace without justice is hypocrisy at best and fascism at
worst.
BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board Member Chuck
Turner - Served as a member of the Boston City Council
for ten years and eleven months. He was a member and founder
of the Fund the Dream campaign and was the Chair of the
Council’s Human Rights Committee, and Vice Chair of the
Hunger and Homelessness Committee. Click here to
contact Mr. Turner. Your email messages will be passed on
to Mr. Turner by BC. You may also visit SupportChuckTurner.com.
You
may also write to Mr. Turner. The address is:
Charles
Turner #80641038
Hazelwood Penitentiary, P.O. Box 2000
Bruceton Mills, West Virginia 26525
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