The Ruination of Racism, part one
The Clinton 12 and the Reverend Paul W. Turner
There is no way to retract racism. It can’t be fixed. It must be destroyed, and the white folks must be at least as diligent as the black folks in getting that done. We on behalf of our forebears and families now have much to make up for, much more than most whites know or want to know.
The Clinton 12 were remarkable African-American teenagers who were the first students of color in the state of Tennessee to go to school at what had previously been an all white high school. In the case of these kids, the high school was Clinton High School in Anderson County, Tennessee. They were the first to make desegregation a reality in the state of Tennessee and among the earliest in the United States. The official beginning was late August 1956.
Photo borrowed from the Knoxville News Sentinel.
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Most of the white Christian kids, it seems, did their best to make the lives of these twelve students as miserable as possible. Keep in mind, the black students didn’t ask for the privilege of being thrown into the lions’s den. Federal Judge Robert Taylor had ordered the desegregation to begin with these very folks.
The white kids with plenty of prompting from their parents in all likelihood were delighted with the success of their harassment. The Clinton 12 stopped attending school altogether.
Rev Paul W. Turner. Photo borrowed
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Thirteen or fourteen weeks later, half of them decided to return to classes. The pastor of the First Baptist Church of Clinton, Rev.Paul W Turner, wanted to lend support to their effort so he walked with them back to Clinton High School.
AI re-creation of the group walking.to school. Rev. Turner is in the front right.
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Safe arrival for the students! Not for Rev. Turner. He was severely beaten by a few hoodlums, white rednecks. There were witnesses. sadly. Though he went on to achieve much, he never completely got over what happened to him that crisp early December morning.
From Clinton, Turner went to Nashville, Tennessee, where he was a pastor, and during which time he earned a doctoral degree. Specifics on those chapters in his life are currently impossible to find through any written source known to me. But I’m currently living close to the First Baptist Church of Clinton, and I’ll bet there’s someone in the church who can fill in those details for me. When that happens, I will update you here. Paul Turner is definitely worth knowing about. He is an inspiration to white people who need to and who want to stand with Black people in the worst of racist circumstances and suffer the consequences.
Doctorate in hand, Turner was invited to join the faculty of the Golden Gate Baptist Theo logical Seminary in Ontario, California, near Los Angeles. Due to what his family called internal politics, he was, just before Christmas 1980, terminated as a professor. There’s a very good chance that tension in the Southern Baptist Theological Convention as a whole at that time, as the fundamentals had begun their dastardly takeover in which they were ultimately hugely successful, had something to do with his termination. I will trace down those details also, if possible.
in any case, he felt severely attacked and therefore distraught. Soon thereafter, he took his own life. Curses on all involved in bringing down someone determined to make our society and our world a more just a place for all people. He was 57 years old.
Dr. Turner nearer the time of his death. Photo borrowed.
Parts two and three of this brief series are video posts concentrating on the Clinton 12 students and their particular experience.