Some may wonder why after 81 years a violent episode in Valdosta’s past is being commemorated this weekend.
Why remember the brutal lynching of several black South Georgians, including the vicious slaying of a black, pregnant woman named Mary Turner? Why bring this up now in an age when race relations have improved, when America has elected its first black president?
Members of the Valdosta-based Mary Turner Project understand the question. They hear such questions often. They even pose a similar question and a response on their brochures.
The Mary Turner Project gives many answers in the brochure to the question, “Why Now, 2009?” The response concludes, “... we should bring these events up so we can face our collective past in order to see how it might affect our collective present and future.”
As Mark George, a Valdosta State University sociology professor and an organizer with the Mary Turner Project, said the group and this weekend’s ceremony aren’t designed to demonize Valdosta and South Georgia.
Racism isn’t just an entity of the South and its past, George explains. Racial oppression has run the course of American history, in all regions of the United States. From Indian removals to grabbing land from Mexicans to white-only areas of the nation to the internment of the Japanese, race is an American tragedy that has played across the nation, East, West, North and South.
Mary Turner’s horrific murder, along with the other deaths of that period in May 1918, is but one chapter in American history.
Sadly, the case of Mary Turner is a South Georgia story. It is a story that is rarely mentioned as part of Valdosta, Lowndes County and Brooks County’s history. In truth, for both the region’s black and white communities, the story of Mary Turner and the events of May 1918 have nearly been forgotten.
The Mary Turner Project believes it is a story that should be told. In understanding the story of Mary Turner, we have a better understanding of our region’s past. In understanding what has gone before, we can better understand one another, hopefully.
So, this weekend’s ceremony is about recognizing that past, not reliving it, not demonizing anyone. The people who committed the crimes against Mary Turner and others are all dead and buried. The perpetrators never faced punishment for their actions on this mortal plane. They lived their lives and were properly buried.
Mary Turner and her unborn child never received a funeral. There has been no marker to note her passing. This weekend, with first a cross and then a historical marker in the area where she died, Mary Turner will be blessed and hopefully put to rest.
But for her to be at rest, we must first understand the horror of how she passed.
What We Think
Our Opinion: Mary Turner: A past unearthed
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THUMBS UP: To Dr. John Gaston, retiring dean of Valdosta State University’s College of the Arts. For the past 10-plus years, Gaston has worked to build a more interconnected program with various artistic and communications departments working together. Given that you are likely to see one College of the Arts department collaborating with another during events is proof of Gaston’s success.
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On the go this weekend
Take a breath.
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Sharing the roads with motorcycles
With the recent pleasant temperatures and sunny skies, the number of motorcycles on area roads has increased.
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Thank your local law enforcement today
Today, May 15, was designated Peace Officers Memorial Day back in 1962 when President John F. Kennedy was in office.
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Visit musical roots this weekend
Beginning Saturday, May 18, Nashville, Ga., will be hosting a special Smithsonian exhibit, “New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music.” The exhibit will continue through the end of June and Nashville has done a tremendous job in promoting and planning for the exhibit.
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Happy Mother’s Day!
A few years ago, a television commercial asked, Who first believed in you? Many folks may have instinctively answered by simply saying, Mom.
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THUMBS UP: To mail workers, volunteers and food bank staff for gathering food for the annual Stamp Out Hunger postal food drive today. A plastic bag designated for canned goods and other non-perishable food items should have arrived in your mailbox earlier this week. If you haven’t already, take a few moments to fill the bag with food and hang from your mailbox. If you didn’t receive the special Stamp Out Hunger bag, any plastic bag filled with food will do. This food drive helps feed thousands of South Georgians annually. Valdosta-Lowndes County often donates more food than nearly all other cities and counties in Georgia.
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Celebrating nurses
She is considered the founder of modern nursing so it seems only natural that National Nurses Week would include Florence Nightingale’s birthday.
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Helping the hungry: Mail it in!
Valdosta-Lowndes County continues revealing its generous spirit.
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New school scoring system
The first year of any new program is always a tough one.
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