Nat Turner: A Story That Needs Telling

Time for Day of Remembrance

Darren Camper
Texas Editor

African-American history is filled with many Black heroes who fought for the freedom of our people and who made marks on history with their actions.

While we pause and celebrate non-violence with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we can not make the mistake of allowing White America to select our history, pick our heroes or lull us into thinking that King was the “only one” or the most important Black person to be remembered on a regular basis.

While I am not against MLK Jr., he was not the only one to send a strong message of equality and freedom. He was not the only one that suffered through racism, discrimination and sins of White supremacy.

Nat Turner was a man who lived in slavery and knew its evils first hand.

He too had a dream of someday seeing his people set free from the oppressive hands of White slave masters, but there are no holidays or parades for him.

Turner was born in Southampton, Virginia on 2nd October, 1800, according to information from Spartacus Schoolnet.

He was the son of slaves, and was the property of Benjamin Turner, a prosperous plantation owner.

Turner’s mother and grandmother had been brought to America from Africa and had a deep hatred of slavery. Turner grew up sharing his mother's view of slavery.

He lived in an age where Black had no voice, no freedom, were mostly illiterate and were dependent on the good wishes and care of masser.

His life was not a life fit for man or beast. Black slaves were not considered full men or women by law, but chattel property that could be bought, sold and traded.

Turner was taught to read by his master's son, and during that time he developed deep religious beliefs.

Encouraged by his parents, he gradually began to believe that God had chosen him to lead his people out of slavery.
In 1831 Turner was sold to Joseph Travis. In February of that year, an eclipse of the sun convinced Turner that this was a supernatural sign from God to start an insurrection. However, it wasn't until August 21 that Turner and about seven other slaves killed Travis and his family in their sleep and launched his rebellion. In all, about 50 whites were killed.
Turner had hoped his actions would cause a massive slave uprising, but only 75 joined his rebellion.

Over 3,000 members of the state militia were sent to deal with Turner's rebellion, and they were soon defeated. In retaliation, more than a hundred innocent slaves were killed. Turner went into hiding but was captured six weeks later and was executed November 11, 1831.

Historians have labeled Turner as a crazed maniac, but you could not possibly understand him unless you walked in his shoes, saw what he seen and experience the fears, horrors, exposure to beating and lynching and abuses of slavery.

God works in mysterious ways and I believe God was in both plans. He used Turner as he did MLK Jr. to make respective statements for their times about the injustices imposed on Black people in America.

If Whites were not so evil and selfish during slavery and had treated Blacks with the same respect, dignity and equality, maybe Turner’s rebellion and massacres would never have happened.

Turner is a hero for his using his vision to make a strong case and historic statement against the oppression of Black people or any people.

Even by the time MLK Jr. came on the scene, it was obvious that Whites were still sinful and disobedient to God. They still were mistreating Blacks and had not learned their lesson still refusing to “turn the other cheek” or yield to God’s own word that he is no respecter of persons.

Both represent the broad spectrum of thoughts and philosophies that makes up the psyche of Black America.

Even today, you can’t keep kicking a man or stepping on his neck before he strikes back in some way. Turner was the epitome of what happens when the band breaks.

Payback comes in many forms, from nonviolent means and violent means.

The definition of justice is like to that of beauty – it is defined only in the eyes of those seeking it and does not stop until it works its measure.

In both cases, it demonstrates how movements are born when men are pushed too far and for too long.

Turner had a vision and MLK Jr. had a vision. One was a dream of peace. Another was a vision and a warning that points to the dangers of pushing until you reach spiritual, mental and physical limits. Slavery and oppression undoubtedly created dangerous stress and pressures levels on the soul.

In their own ways, Turner’s Rebellion against oppression evils and MLK Jr. non-violent peaceful approaches to problems have made powerful impacts on the historic fabric of this nation and those contributions must never be forgotten.

The Return of Segregation?

Do School Vouchers Turn Back Clock

Darren Camper

Texas Editor

Austin - The 1896 court ruling in Plessy v Ferguson ushered in an era of “separate but equal” facilities and treatment for blacks and whites. In the area of education, it was felt that the children of former slaves would be better served if they attended their own schools and in their own communities.

The images of schools from the past show that black schools and facilities were indeed separate, but never equal. Black schools suffered and barely survived, while White schools flourished.

In the age of men crying out for school vouchers to send children to private schools, it appears history is setting up to repeat itself again.

Three new proposals in Austin promise seek to change the course of education in Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and San Antonio, but the reality of it is it takes away the opportunities that public education provides that helps urban Black children escape lives of poverty, hopelessness underachievement and a lifetime of low wages.

The Louisiana state courts ruled against Plessy, and his subsequent appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court was denied in 1896.

The impact of Plessy of that case was to relegate blacks to second-class citizenship. They were separated from whites by law and by private action in transportation, public accommodations, recreational facilities, churches, cemeteries and school in both Northern and Southern states.

Utah, Ohio, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia are offering publicly funded voucher programs and Texas wants to be the next state to step in that direction.

African-Americans need to beware and think twice before jumping on a bandwagon that puts us in a time machine that sends us spiraling back to the days of segregation and unequal education.

House Bill 1263

It creates a vastly expensive pilot voucher program for educationally disadvantaged students in counties with a population of more than 800,000 people. Those counties include Harris (Houston), Dallas, Tarrant (Fort Worth), Bexar (San Antonio) and Travis (Austin).

Authors of the bill include Reps. Linda Harper-Brown, R-Irving; Jodi Laubenberg, R-Parker; and Carl Isett, R-Lubbock; Rep. Howard, R-Sugar Land; Rep. Paxton, R-McKinney

District eligibility requirements are so broad that nearly all the school districts in San Antonio, for example, would be pulled into the voucher program. Eligible students would include those who have dropped out of school, are at risk of dropping out, come from low-income families, are victims of certain acts of violence, and are eligible to participate in a district’s special education program or have limited English proficiency.
However the biggest problem is the loss of funding and services to children left behind in poorer urban districts.

Every urban district stands to lose money and that affect the education of Black children who are not accepted or do not and cannot qualify to attend those private schools.

A look at participating school districts in 2005-2010 shows about how much public money could be lost to districts due to vouchers in the first two years:

• Austin ISD could lose: $74 million
• Dallas ISD could lose: $165 million
• Edgewood ISD (San Antonio) could lose: $13 million
• Fort Worth ISD could lose: $79 million
• Houston ISD could lose: $200 million
• North Forest ISD (Houston) could lose: $9 million
• San Antonio ISD could lose: $54 million
• South San Antonio ISD could lose: $9 million

House Bill 12

It would drain money from neighborhood public schools by establishing a private school voucher program in the state’s six largest school districts – Austin, Cypress-Fairbanks, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and Northside (San Antonio) Independent School Districts.

The author of HB 12 is Rep. Frank Corte, R-San Antonio.

Some drawbacks associated with this are a voucher program that leaves private and religious schools unaccountable for failure. It also opens the gate for screening, discrimination and does not prohibit or control private and religious schools from discriminating based on factors such as a child’s gender, race, citizenship or limited English proficiency.

Other concerns with the voucher proposal is that it does not require private and religious schools to provide special services to students with disabilities and allows a private school to continue to receive tax funding even if students do not perform satisfactorily on state assessment tests.

House Bill 3042

It opens up private school vouchers to any student in the state who is eligible for public school. It would include 1031 school districts and 215 charter school districts.

Authors of the bill are Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball & Rep. Charlie Howard, R-Sugar Land.

The bill offers minimum accountability and no consequences for failure.
There are guarantees and absolutely no consequences for poor academic performance, no school accountability ratings, no financial accountability, and no cutoff of state funding for failing private schools.

Vouchers are a controversial proposition to use tax dollars to fund tuition at private and religious schools, according to the Texas Freedom Network.

Black parents need to ask if draining money from neighborhood public schools and taking money away from poor Black children for the privileged and rich is a good idea.

A pilot voucher program targeted at large urban school districts like Houston and Dallas would do nothing to help cash-strapped schools in small towns and rural areas.

Poor Black children stand to lose with Whites clamoring to get more state aid and tax dollars for their private and religious schools.

Many want to remove their children from public schools taking them away from the need to socialize, connect and associate with people from different races, religions and beliefs.

It is a push for racial and religious isolationism that will destroy the delicate fabric that helps stabilize and build communication and understanding between the races. It is a move that shrink the total education dollars available for all public schools.

This stands to be the knockout punch for struggling inner city and urban school districts across Texas since White flight gutted the inner city and took many White children to the suburbia, private and parochial schools.

This legislation brings more money to private and religious schools and allows the screening out, separation and sets up a pattern to leave poor Black children behind. Without the proper tools and funding for education, urban schools will suffer a mass exodus of teachers, facilities and equipment will deteriorate and the children will see a return to the days of hand me down school books, used equipment and hand me down supplies.

Vouchers represent the new “white sheets” worn formerly worn by the Ku Klux Klan. The sheets may be white and clean on the outside, but underneath are the dirty motives and warm blooded spirits of racism that seeks to resurrect the idealisms that separate Black from White, rich from poor, inner city from suburbia and penalize the disadvantaged children for being born poor in America.

It is Black children in Texas major cities that stand to lose the most if the state Legislature and Gov. Rick Perry signs off on school vouchers.

This watcher on the wall aggress that diverting money from schools that serve all children to aid a few students who might be accepted to private schools is simply bad public policy. It is indeed the resurrection of segregation.

Statewide Petition Quest Purposes to Reopen Black School District

New Life?

Darren Camper
Texas Editor

Dallas- Loyalists to the Wilmer-Hutchins Independent School District have a dream. - that one day the chains and locks will come off their schools and that children will once again move through the hallowed halls of its schools and learn in a hometown classrooms.

It is a far cry from students getting up at 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. to catch school buses by 6 a.m. for the long trip and numerous stops at a variety of Dallas schools by 9 a.m.

That burdening routine is what has put citizens on a mission to restore the WHISD.

“We are going to the community and appealing to all people in every corner of this state,” said long-time resident Faye Gafford, and spokeswoman for Citizens to Restore Wilmer-Hutchins Independent School District. “Watching what is happening to our children just breaks my heart… we demand answers and are in this fight for the long haul.”

Gafford and citizens have launched an all out campaign and are circulating petitions statewide to reopen the schools.

The petition was drafted by attorney Kenneth Thompson with the powerful African-American Atlanta law firm of Molden-Holley, Thompson & Heard, LLC. The prestigious firm has also been retained to represent the group’s cause.

WHISD served a culturally diverse population of 3,200 students in eight schools: one pre-Kindergarten school, four elementary schools, one middle school, one high school and one alternative education school. Prior to being merged into the Dallas ISD, its students were 70.4 percent African American, 25.4 percent Hispanic, and 3.9 percent White.

In the petition, citizens are asking all Texas residents to sign and join a move to convince Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, House Speaker Tom Craddick and other Texas lawmakers that the case to reopen the district and its schools has merit and deserves to be heard. It is a case that without challenge has the potential to affect and change how TEA deals with every school district in Texas 254 counties.

CRWHISD hopes the legislature will authorize an unprecedented waiver of sovereign immunity that would allow the community served by the district to pursue justice.

The group believes that WISD was illegally closed and students dispersed to the Dallas ISD for purely political reasons and because a majority of the students and leaders in the district were Black.

The truth is out there and it begins with how WHISD became a victim to false accusations and a vendetta campaign by the Texas Education Agency and Dallas television and newspaper media groups who pressed an agenda to get rid of the all Black run district.

In one small part of the argument for re-opening the district, citizens cite a March 21, 2005 letter sent by TEA Commissioner Shirley J. Neeley to Wilmer-Hutchins officials lowering the district from “academically acceptable” to an “academically unacceptable” rating and in the same letter her move to appoint a board of managers to run the district.

According to the argument, such actions according to Texas Education Code 39.131 (a) (9) are questionable since an accused district must be given “a year or more” to challenge the change in rating before the board of managers are appointed.

“Wilmer-Hutchins was not given that opportunity,” she said. “What happened was illegal because this district was not given its due process.”

CRWHISD also believes that the dissolution of the district was also driven by economics and a vast land grab given talk of the coming transportation corridor and others interest in business and industrial expansion into southern Dallas County.

Another argument for reopening the district is the fact that after the one complaint against the district and numerous cheating and mismanagement investigations, still no charges have been filed against any official that definitively proves any wrongdoing, cheating or justification for shutting down the district and closing its schools.

The closure of schools and district shutdown left the 3,200 students without neighborhood schools, splintered the communities and shattered and destroyed the education will of youth who loved their district, prided their schools and just wanted to attend and complete their education in schools taught by teachers from their communities.

“Parents and children and community served by the former WHISD have suffered an inexcusable injustice,” she added. “We know that there’s no way that Whites in Dallas would allow this to happen to their kids.”

The group also raises questions about other districts, including Dallas ISD, and statewide with numerous problems similar to the WHISD who were not targeted, highlighted, sent board of managers or closed.

“There have been predominantly White schools in this area whose students have done far worse on test scores that our children have,” she said. “They are allowed to continue with their neighborhood school. Why is that?”

Any one can sign the petition as long as you are a Texas resident. You do not have to be a registered voter, Gafford noted, and she is hoping people from Houston, Waco, San Antonio, Austin, Beaumont, Port Arthur, El Paso, Abilene and other communities join the effort to preserve these and other schools in the future who may face hostile takeover, attack and closure like Wilmer-Hutchins did.

“These children need your help now and this community needs its schools,” she said in a passionate appeal. “Right now, many of them have no home and nothing to connect with in this community and far too many are being lost to the streets and the criminal justice system.”

For more information or to get a copy of the petition contact Gafford at 972-225-3713.