Turner to speak at SCC Feb. 28

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Dr. William Turner

February 28, 2008

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Anonymous The Commonwealth Journal Thu Feb 28, 2008, 08:23 AM EST

Dr. William H. Turner, the National Endowment for the Humanities chair in Appalachian Studies at Berea College, will speak at Somerset Community College for Black History Month on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008, at 7 p.m.

The title of his presentation will be “Black History: The Stuff of A People’s Memory.”

Turner will speak in the Harold Rogers Student Commons Community Room on the SCC Somerset Campus-North. The public is invited and there is no charge for admission.

The late Alex Haley said of Turner: “Bill Turner knows more about black people in the mountains of the American South than anybody in the world.”

Turner was born and raised in a large coal mining family in Lynch in Harlan County, Ky. He was awarded a bachelor of science degree in sociology from the University of Kentucky and holds a doctorate from the University of Notre Dame, where he specialized in race and ethnic relations, African-American and Appalachian Studies.

During a distinguished career involving teaching, research and administration, Turner has served at Southern University, Fisk University, Howard University and the University of Kentucky.

Turner has also held post-doctoral appointments as a Senior Research Fellow at the Moton Center for Independent Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, interned as an Academy of Sciences Senior Ford Fellow at the National Center for Education Statistics through George Washington University, and at the Center for the Study of Civil Rights and Race Relations at Duke University.

From 2002-2004, Turner was interim president of Kentucky State University. He served as vice president for University Engagement and Associate Provost for Multicultural and Academic Affairs at the University of Kentucky from 2004-2007.

Turner, a freelance writer, worked for a decade with Roots author Alex Haley as a research assistant, while penning weekly op-ed columns on the politics of race through a consortium of black newspapers, as well as for the Journal, from Winston-Salem, N.C., from 1985 to 2002. He has authored more than one hundred essays, articles and papers; collaborated on videos and movies about Appalachia as a screen writer and producer; and his signature work, published in 1985, Blacks in Appalachia, remains the first and only book to combine African American and Appalachian studies. In 2005, he helped with the publication of African American Miners and Migrants, which tells the story of blacks in Harlan County, Ky.

The Christian Appalachian Project recognized Turner as its Citizen of the Year in 1994. In 2005, while serving as associate provost and vice president for Multi-cultural Affairs at the University of Kentucky, Turner was recognized with the President’s Award for Diversity. In 2006, he was inducted as a Notre Dame Black Exemplar; and, in 2007, was honored with the State of Kentucky’s Dr. Martin Luther King Citizen’s Award. Turner was inducted into the Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame in September 2007.

Turner and his wife, Vivian, live in Lexington. They are the parents of three adult children: Kisha, William Kenyatta and Hodari. They have four grandchildren.

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Pulaski carries Girdler to win

In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary election, it was impossible to miss the colorful signs dotting nearly every Pulaski roadway. The names in the race for the 15th State Senatorial District seat popped out: A.C. Donahue. Chris Girdler. Mark Polston.

Once citizens hit the ballots, however, the results mirrored the dimensions of the signs themselves: Chris Girdler stood the tallest.

Girdler, deputy district director for Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers, ran away with the votes inside Pulaski County’s borders, earning 3,926 votes for 62.05 percent of the total number cast.

That number more than doubled the next highest vote-getter, businessman Mark Polston, who raked in 1,624 votes for 25.67 percent.

However, Polston — who owns Classic Carpet, a home-flooring business located just off the southern 914 bypass — can claim a moral victory ... three of them, in fact. In all three counties in the district other than Pulaski — those being Adair, Casey, and Russell Counties — Polston actually edged out Girdler.

In Adair, Polston beat Girdler 629 to 394. In Casey County, it was 538 to 417, and in Russell, it was 1,862 to 1,038.

Polston said he just “couldn’t pull it out with the numbers” and that “the machine worked for” Girdler in Pulaski County.

“I think that was their strategy — I think they had a Pulaski County strategy all along,” said Polston. “They played the political game well.”

Polston said the difference between his and Girdler’s campaigns was that “mine was a very, very grass roots campaign,” he said. “I did not have a political machine behind me. I understand how this process works, and in this instance, he prevailed.”

As for why Girdler didn’t take three of four counties, the winning candidate — since there are no Democrats in the race, winning the Republican primary was effectively a final victory for Girdler — said he didn’t have an answer for that.

However, “I believe things happen for a reason and I hope the long and strenuous campaign will only heighten my desire to move beyond the bitterness and partisanship of the recent past,” said Girdler.

“Regionalism is a goal of mine, and I look forward to helping all four counties,” he added, noting that he campaigned heavily in each of them.

Sen. Vernie McGaha, the long-time state senator whose seat the candidates were vying for, actually supported Polston after Liberty’s Todd Hoskins dropped out of the race earlier this month.

Donahue, a local attorney, got 556 votes in Pulaski County, 8.79 percent of the vote. He only received 145 votes in Russell County, 74 in Adair County, and 75 in Casey County, where hometown candidate Hoskins almost matched him with 71 votes despite no longer being officially in the race.

Polston said he’s “still digesting” what happened, and though “the process has been a very good experience for me,” he wouldn’t commit to running again in the future. “I wouldn’t shut the door to anything, but I’m not opening any doors either.”

Still, “I think I got a lot of people involved in the process that had not been involved before and would not have been otherwise,” he said. “A lot of people got out and worked really hard, got motivated to talk to friends and neighbors. I think a lot of people became involved through this campaign that are going to be involved for a long time.”

Girdler stressed his “positive message” and said that Rogers is a “mentor and good friend” that he would turn to for advice in dealing with a frequently combative legislative body in Frankfort, one for which Girdler hopes to help change the culture.

Girdler said that he was “confident and optimistic” during the day Tuesday because he’d “worked extremely hard.” Nevertheless, the realization that he’d won gave him “chill bumps,” he said.

“I’m absolutely honored,” said Girdler. “The position of state senator is more than an honor, more than an office. It’s a charge to keep, and I will give it my all.

“I pledge to be the people’s state senator,” he added. “I look forward to working with everyone to move this region forward.”

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