Transcript: EPISODE I

Just is, Just U.S. and Justice: A Counter

Narrative of Low-Country Heritage
NARR:
We welcome you today, with emphasis on this conspicuous 4th of July, to
highlight the legacy of a great black activist, orator and social
theoretician-- and to as well inaugurate a new on-line series. His name-Henry Mc Neal Turner. The series name:
Just is, Just U.S. and Justice: A Counter Narrative of Coastal/Low-Country
Heritage
JUST IS, JUST US and JUSTICE!! This is the story of a deeply historic lowcountry, coastal, and Gullah-Geechee inspired region in a land of racially
tinged high-flying colonial, and confederate icons, re-enactments and
monuments-- yet in the wake of an immense and brutally disproportionate
omission of African legacies in America.
As you can see by the bullet points behind me,
Turner was a person of great accomplishment-- and of course-- as you
well know, Africans in a America have produced many such people even
in the wake of otherwise impossible odds. So, in many cases, its not merely
the accomplishments that are special-- but rather the contexts in which
they happen-- the way the person chooses to study, take-on and engage
the circumstances--- no matter how insurmountable, and no matter what
the costs.
For instance: after slavery many Blacks and their industrious Black
supporters won state legislative seats. In 1868-- though-- many exConfederates were being re-commissioned as federal troops.
Within the context of this trend, white legislators drafted a bill to remove all
Black representatives-- from the GA legislature, and years later the first
comprehensive national CIVIL RIGHTS act of 1875 was reversed by the
Supreme Court in 1883.
Upon being removed from his seat Turner responded with, and I quote
directly: I am here to demand my rights and to hurl thunderbolts at the
man who would dare to cross the threshold of my manhood. . . . Never in
the history of the world has a man been . . . charged with the offense of
being of a darker hue than his fellow men.
Turner was a person deserving well more than few bullet points. He was a
fiery and intensely determined advocate for Black people's rights and

security, at a time when many other colored leaders preferred to stay in

step-- and not speak-out about, think about, nor pursue controversial
subjects like lynching, voting rights, equal education, armed self defense,
women's rights, and poverty. His legacy was one which caused his
narrative to be historically displaced-- and even disappeared from the
record.
THEN-- just like TODAY, we can see many of the same trends from the past- the scenery and methods have changed, but the effects are all too
familiar: especially in Savannah, Charleston and other cities where
gentrification, segregated schools-and poverty, exist beside racist icons, monuments and even racialized
terrorist murder-- all
within the web of a New Jim Crow reality. Henry Mc Neal Turner
generated a narrative about such issues both before and during the
original Jim Crow. That narrative deserves to be continued today-Turner, the staunch radical Black Republican, in his 1906 address to the
Georgia Equal Rights Association convention said, and I quote directly: " I
used to love what I thought was the grand old flag, and sing with ecstasy
about the stars and stripes"... but to the Negro in this country the
American flag is a dirty and contemptible rag.
This powerful statement from an aged man who had such a
commendable list of now-sanitized accomplishments; a man who was
appointed by Lincoln himself; a man who was a postman; participated in
the workings of government, voting, and Constitutional ethics-- why would
he say such a thing-- not merely as some young unseasoned, firebrand,
but as an experienced elder?
This is our starting point-- our blues and Shout narrative-- our search for the
stories, sounds and movement in between the cracks, and beneath the
surface of an otherwise smoothed over American mythology.
The existence of offensive or questionable commemorations in this region
are much more than matters of a removal, veiling, or musemification.
They actually are a prime opportunity for those interested in claiming the
trove of omitted and blotted-out African and related history and culture.
If you visit the low country and coasts-- please come with an expectation,
if not a demand that a full telling of its heritage be presented, and that
efforts are continually made to keep building upon that resource.
All our cultural histories link us IN America-- and they are not already
made or fixed-- or ready for a museum: in the same way, color and race
are no match for TRUTH, FREEDOM, and JUSTICE!! They are alive and reshapable everyday! Now! in a common cause.

In the spirit of Turner's enthusiasm, we will present a heritage narrative

which is more than a stream of disconnected fun-facts and names. The
histories of Turner and the many Blacks like him-- are the voice of those
whose stories and exploits counteract safe, neutralized tour-languagedouble-speak.
Those folks have faced a type of historical banishment: not always by
name or fact, but by references and contexts. They all actively and
decisively pursued JUSTICE!
We will engage the references and contexts which are the substance of a
relevant past, present, and future...a narrative of inspiration, dialogue,
and genuine change.
In the words of Efia Nwangaza: "the call for justice is arising more and
more frequently... it's not enough to talk about forgiveness... not enough
to talk about healing, but that only healing can come with justice".
*****
To learn more about Turner and/or to see electronic media concerning
this program-- try:
Horne, Gerald. (2014). The Counter Revolution of 1776. New York: NYU
Press
Dittmer, John, essay included in Black Leaders of the Nineteenth Century,
edited by Leon Litwack and August Meier, University of Illinois Press, 1988.
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Henry_McNeal_Turner.aspx
"The Forgotten Prophet: Bishop Henry McNeal Turner and the African
American Tradition" by Andre E. Johnson, Lexington Books, 2012
Drago, Edmund. (1992). Black Politicians and Reconstruction Georgia: A
splendid Failure. Athens G: Brown Thrasher Press
Jones, Jacqueline. (2008). Saving Savannah. New York: Alfred A. Knopf
What is the Real Symbol of White Supremacy?
Additional:
Johnson, Andre. (2014). An African American Pastor Before and During the
American Civil War, Vol. 1 (2010) and the "Chaplain Letters, Vol. 2 (2012).
Vol. 3, titled An African American Pastor During Reconstruction is due in
2013
Du Bois, W. E. B. (2007/1903). The Souls of Black Folk.OUP Oxford: Oxford
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&i
d=31&Itemid=74&jumival=14100
Johnson, Andre E. "An African American Pastor Before and During the
American Civil War: The Literary Archive of Henry McNeal Turner, Vol 2; The
Chaplain Writings" (Edwin Mellen Press, 2012). This is the second of a

proposed 12 volume series that aims at collecting the letters, speeches,

sermons and essays of Turner.
Volume 2 consists of 38 writings while Turner served as a Chaplain during
the American Civil War from 1863-1865.
Savannah Poverty Plan:
http://www.usmayors.org/chhs/SavannahPovertyPlan.pdf
Donovan, Suzanne. (2013) Savannah poverty goes up: What to do?
http://savannahnow.com/column/2013-09-23/commentary-savannahpoverty-goes-what-do