Support Chuck Turner Update

Starting on March 25, 2011, Chuck will be begin serving a sentence in federal prison. This site will continue as an online platform for communications from Chuck while he is behind the wall. See the new category “Chuck Speaks” for a catalogue of his future articles, calls to actions and reports on his case.

You can write to Chuck at:

Charles Turner #80641038
Hazelwood Penitentiary, P.O. Box 2000,
Bruceton Mills, West Virginia 26525

Thank you Chuck. You stood with us, we stand with you!

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Action: Chuck Turner Appeal 5/9 @ 9:30am

Reflections From Behind the Wall:
May 2,2012
Dear Friends,
The Appeals Court has announced that the oral arguments on my appeal will be heard on Wednesday, May 9th at 9:30 a.m. at the John J. Moakley Federal Courthouse. The three judge panel will include Judge Roferiee Thompson, an Obama appointee (2010) from Rhode Island, Judge Sandra Lynch, a Clinton appointee (1995) from Massachusetts, and Judge Bruce Selya, a Reagan appointee (1986) from Rhode Island.
If you have an opportunity to go, I would definitely recommend it. Given the quality of the brief prepared by Attorney Charles Rankin, my appeal attorney, and Attorney Michelle Menken, his assistant, I think the hearing should be a fascinating discussion of the application of federal law to my case.
I hope that spring has sprung in Boston. Up here on the mountain, it is always difficult to tell.
The Struggle Continues,
chuck
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Chuck Speaks 4-25-12

Reflections from Behind the Wall:
April 25, 2012
Dear Friends,
Today is the first day of the 14th month of my incarceration. As I
predicted in one of my early reflections, I have been able to use the
incarceration despite its injustice as a foundation for strengthening
myself for the struggles that will be facing all of us when I finally
am able to come home. I not only am healthier but also am stronger on
all levels–physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual–than when I
left Boston. This experience confirms the wisdom of our elders that
adversity can be an ally or an enemy. The choice is ours.
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Chuck Turner Reflections 2-12

Reflections from Behind the Wall:

Topic: Esoteric Science and The New Age of Democratic Enlightened Self Government

Part 1: Overview of the Field of Esoteric Science:

A) Introduction:

I have had what many would consider an excellent education. I graduated from a public college preparatory high school in Cincinnati, Ohio;  I received a B.A. in government from Harvard College; and have had a year of post graduate education at M.I.T. focusing on community development. Yet, embedded and implicit in my 18 years of education was the idea that white people, particularly rich white males. were in control of the world because of their natural superiority and black people were subjugated  because of our natural inferiority.

In my heart and head the idea of the natural inferiority of any race didn’t make sense. It wasn’t rational. In the animal world there are no naturally inferior species. There are differences in species but scientists do not claim that those differences demonstrate a natural inferiority. Botanists do not claim that because of differences in the plant world some strains of plant life are inferior to others. There was no scientific evidence supporting the assertion of natural superiority and natural inferiority among races. It was clear that the western education system was using the natural superiority/natural inferiority argument to justify and legitimize white political and economic dominance based on military power and a momentary ascendency in the historical cycle.

So I left college frustrated. To the world I was an education man. However, I knew that my search for the truth had to continue until I could answer the questions: Where do we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going? Then one day a friend, Hakim, a graduate student at M.I.T., gave me three books: The Rosicrucian Cosmo Conception, The Mystical Qabalah by Dion Fortune, and the Cosmic Doctrine, a transmission from a nonphysical energy dimension transcribed by Dion Fortune. As I read these books and then many, many others, I began to realize that for thousands of years there had been scientists who had been using their “inner senses” to study the energy systems in which we exist.

These scientists through recording and systematizing their observations had been able to identify the laws governing the development and operation of the cosmos, universe, and our solar system as well as the evolution of all the beings in the cosmos, universe, and solar system as well as the life forms on earth. I began to realize that these findings in the field of esoteric science not only explained the past and present but also opened a window into the future. I began to realize that the world defined by western science was an infinitesimal part of the real world.

Against the background of our human evolution as sparks of cosmic energy and our evolutionary future, as explained by esoteric science, the insanity and inhumanity of this materialistic age became more understandable. While the experience of living through it continued to be difficult and emotionally unacceptable, esoteric science’s explanation of why it was going on made the experience more manageable as well as tolerable. The prediction of the expansion of human consciousness resulting in an enlightened future in which human beings would possess superhuman consciousness made me less fearful of the future for generations yet unborn.

Yet, I remained silent regarding my understanding of life, gained through esoteric science. It has been of great benefit to me and my work, but I was ambivalent about publicly sharing it. My greatest fear was and to an extent is that I would be unable to bring clarity to a complex field of study and would create confusion, thereby doing a disservice rather than being of service. My second concern was that as an organizer, I would distract people from the focus of my organizing. The organizer’s job is to focus people’s attention on the problem to be solved, the job to be done, not on h/erself. The reluctance to speak publicly about esoteric science increased when I was elected to a position on the Boston City Council. Given people’s sensitivity regarding their religious beliefs, it seemed unwise if not disrespectful to discuss esoteric science from an elected position, financed with public dollars.

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Chuck Civil Hearing @ Monday @ 9am

Come support Chuck Turner’s Civil Suit against the Boston City Council for his unlawful removal from elected office.  There will be a hearing on Monday.  All Chuck Supporters are encouraged to attend:

Chuck Turner Civil Hearing
Monday 2/6/12
9am
Supreme Judicial Court
John Adams Courthouse
1 Pemberton Sq, Courtroom 1
617 557 1114

Help spread the word and be at court on Monday @ 9am to support Chuck’s suit.

Download the Hearing Brief Here!
Chuck Turner vs Boston City Council SJC Brief
Chuck Turner Chester Darling Reply Brief

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Chuck Speaks 8-25-11

Reflections from Behind the Wall:

Topic: Anatomy of a FrameUp:

This is the postscript to the eight part series, Anatomy of a FrameUP, which describes my two and a half year struggle with the Justice Department which led to my being a convicted felon, now in the 5th month of my 36 month sentence at the USP Hazelton work camp, Bruceton Mills, West Virginia.

Postscript:

Judge Woodlock, former US Attorney Michael Sullivan, Asst. US Attorney McNeil, Mayor Menino, and others thought that my conviction and incarceration at age 70 would be the end of my lifetime of activism. What they didn’t understand is that age and circumstances don’t define reality. Reality is defined by the spirit that lies coiled within the heart of every human being.

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Chuck Speaks 8-12-11

August 12, 2011

Reflections from Behind the Wall:

Topic: Anatomy of a FrameUP!

This is the 8th installment in the eight part series called Anatomy of a FrameUP which describes my two and a half year struggle with the Justice Department, which led to my being a convicted felon, now in the 5th month of my 36 month sentence at the USP Hazelton work camp , Bruceton Mills, West Virginia.

Installment 8: I WARNED YOU

A) Introduction:

I am a political prisoner. I am in prison not because I committed a crime but because Michael Sullivan, a former Massachusetts U.S. Attorney, decided to target me for entrapment because of my political views and actions as an elected official. I have admitted that a major share of the responsibility for being convicted is mine. If I had followed Terri’s instructions and given whatever Wilburn handed me on the afternoon of August 3, 2007 to her, it would have been difficult for Sullivan to make it look like I was extorting money from Wilburn.  If  Terri had been able to record it as a contribution, it is very unlikely that the FBI agents would have even visited me on the morning of the Senator’s arrest. As I said in Installment 3, in life and especially in politics, its the details that count.

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Chuck Speaks 8-8-11

Reflections from Behind the Wall:

Topic: Anatomy of a FrameUP!

This is the seventh installment of an eight installment series in which I describe my two and a half year struggle with the Justice Department that led to my being a convicted felon, beginning the 5th month of my 36 month sentence here at the work camp of USP Hazelton, Bruceton Mills, West Virginia.

Installment 7: Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury:

I know it is highly unusual for the defendant to address the jury. However, I understand the suspicion that we have of elected officials. So I thought before you make your decision regarding my fate, it would be important that you have an opportunity to get to know me beyond my political label.

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Chuck Speaks 8-1-11

Reflections from Behind the Wall:
Topic: Anatomy of a FrameUp!
Installment 6: A Three Ring Circus
At last, I thought as Terri and I walked into Boston’s Moakley Federal Court House. A year and eleven months had passed since I had been arrested at City Hall. It seemed like a lifetime. The hounding by the press; the constant assassinations of my character; the rallies to defend my innocence; the struggle with Feeney for fair treatment; the endless struggles with US Attorney Sullivan and his sidekick John McNeil as they tried to hide the Big Lie; and the painstaking process engaged in by my legal team, Barry Wilson, Kazi Toure, and John Pavlos, to sort through the discovery: boxes and boxes and boxes of materials and cds mainly relating to the case against my codefendant, the Senator (later separated).  During the last two years I had in reality three full time jobs: trying to defend my sanity; trying to stay out of jail; and most important trying to represent and serve the constituents who had reelected me despite the charges.
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Chuck Speaks 7-22-11

Reflections From Behind the Wall:

Topic: Anatomy of a FrameUp:

This is the fifth of eight installments describing my two and a half year struggle with the Justice Department that led to my being a convicted felon at the USP Hazelton work camp in the mountains of West Virginia, in the fourth month of my 36 month sentence.

Installment 5: What First Amendment?

On the afternoon of December 16, 2008, a group of supporters and I were sitting in my office at City Hall, flush with the excitement of having organized a spirited rally at City Hall. Steve Kirshbaum, an organizer and leader in the International Action Center (IAC), had asked IAC’s President Ramsey Clark, former Attorney General under President Lyndon Johnson, to come to Boston to give support. We thought Ramsey’s appearance in Boston would increase the visibility and strengthen our campaign to counter the media stories, designed to convict me in the court of public opinion.
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Chuck Speaks 7-10-11

Reflections from Behind the Wall:

Topic: Anatomy of a FrameUp:

This is the fourth installment of an eight part series in which I
discuss my two and a half year experience with the Justice Department which resulted in my now being a convicted felon at the work camp of USP Hazelton in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia.

Fourth Installment: A Jury of My Peers:

A) Narrative:

Riding home from the courthouse with my wife and one of my daughters after escaping the clutches of the media was a welcomed relief after my first day as an accused felon. But I couldn’t escape. On the radio, the broadcaster was telling those who had heard and those who hadn’t that Councilor Turner not only was arrested but also was stripped by the Council President of all his committee responsibilities and had been invited to an executive session of the City Council the following Monday. Well, at least I’ll have a relatively quiet weekend to figure out what to do, I thought.

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