Lynn Currier Testimonial

It is my deepest hope that your paper will have the fairness to publish this letter. A letter that has been written with no intention other than to speak the truth as I know it, and as thousands of others not only in District 7, but the entire Greater Boston Area know it to be – a truth that has been very disturbingly kept from the media in the past month.

Unlike most of those sitting on the City Council, the US Attorney General Michael Sullivan, and the FBI, I have watched Councilor Chuck Turner for two decades. I have watched how he approaches people and those issues that affect all of us, and the ultimate good of this city and country. I have watched how respectfully he listens to and speaks to any and all people, young, old, rich, poor, black, white, Native, Latino, Asian and on and on. How he sincerely and humbly respects all that come to him with a concern, problem or injustice, whether he has known them for years or they have just walked into his office for the first time as I have before. What has been most striking, and heart rendering for me as a mother, teacher and human rights activist for the most endangered children of the US and Haiti, poor children of color, is my realization that at the core of everything he believes in and does is a love for humanity that is unrivaled by anyone I have ever met in my life. Councilor Turner wakes up in the morning for one reason and one reason only, to love and protect his family and his people. He has no other purpose or wish in his life, and if anyone who does not know him, took the time to do so, they would understand the depth of his integrity, heart and soul, as I and so very many others do.

I have seen the pain on his face when he hears of someone else’s pain. I have seen the joy in his eyes when he sees children he knows might not have enough food on their table at night speak at a public event, and know that they are someone special. Most recently I have had the honor of working with him on projects to save the lives of our children and our most disenfranchised young adults. The people that virtually no one really wants to work with, because it’s too difficult, and trust me, it’s not glamorous. There is no money for it or in it, and no recognition or awards. But as no surprise to me or others, money and recognition are the very last things on Councilor Turners’ mind. And that is the truth.

For anyone to purposely seek out greedy motivations or deceptive practices in any act of Councilor Turner is like looking for it in Mother Theresa, and makes me suspect their motivations. They just don’t exist. This is not the way he operates in the world, or what makes him get up in the morning. A person who donates thousands of hours and thousands of dollars from his paycheck to the city each year by funding a district office for those who don’t have the good health or money to get to city hall, just doesn’t think like this. The people of the city, and their quality of life is what the Councilor values - nothing more and nothing less.

We are a city in crisis. A city that has children murdered on a weekly basis, with barely a cry of public outrage, and certainly no attempts by the City Council President, the US Attorney General, or the FBI to entrap or perform a sting on the gun dealers. What are our priorities, and who runs our city?

For anyone to assume that they know Councilor Turner because of loosely crafted allegations, or unexplained, cropped photos unethically put into the hands of the media which by the way is illegal in the state of Massachusetts, is a tragedy to me and for this city. We are a city that owes a debt of gratitude to this very special elder and public servant - a city that should be honoring him, not trying to publicly humiliate and worse destroy him. We need him. We need his wisdom. We need his kindness. We need his extreme generosity. And you can be assured, that as the sun rises and falls each day on this city, we will not stand by quietly, and watch him be taken from us.