Turner's passion overcomes sense
2 March 2001
Politicians easily make promises that are
never fulfilled. Not so with
When he first ran in 1999, Turner's slogan was "bold, bald and bright." The last two of those pledges were easy to discharge: Turner has a head that looks like a bronzed apple and a quick grasp of city issues. As for the third? His arrest last week at the state's Department of Public Health leaves little doubt: The man is willing to challenge and he backs away from nothing.
In the midst of a threatened teachers' strike last fall, Turner was one of the few councilors to buck the teachers' union. When firefighters set up a picket in January around the mayor's State of the City speech, Turner was the only councilor to cross the line. Last month he led a rally outside of MBTA headquarters, claiming the T discriminated against minorities.
And now he's leading sit-ins.
For Turner, it's nothing new. At age 60, he figures he's been arrested over a dozen times in a career that has been defined by advocacy. The organizations he has helped run sound like a Who's-Who of the activist left: the Boston Jobs Coalition, the Third World Workers Association and the Center for Community Action, among others.
Consider his run-in with the state Department of Public Health.
In January Turner and Councilor Michael Ross testified against new rules the department proposed that prohibited ex-convicts from working unsupervised with the department's clients. Under the rules, for example, someone convicted of marijuana possession was banned for five years.
Following the hearing, Turner demanded a meeting with DPH Commissioner Howard Koh. He circulated flyers in his district, calling the regulations a "form of slavery" and asking people to join him in a non-violent sit-in.
Turner, Ross and about 25 others met with Koh last Thursday. Although Koh expressed sympathy with Turner's concerns, he couldn't change the regulations on the spot, so after the meeting Turner and a few of his supporters stayed. And stayed.
The whole thing was quite civil, with Ross and others bringing in sleeping bags and food from McDonald's. But Friday evening, the staff told Turner he had to leave. Turner asked to be arrested.
Why all the drama?
DPH says its rules were designed to protect its most vulnerable clients, which include kids, drug abusers and those suffering from the HIV virus or AIDS. That seems reasonable - unless, of course, you happen to be an ex-con. And Chuck Turner, to be blunt, represents a lot of ex-cons.
Most of the neighborhoods Turner represents are overwhelmingly black. And the disturbing fact is that blacks - particularly black males - are frequently involved with the law. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that 28 percent of all black males will be in prison at some point in their lives.
That's a lot of people. Turner sees the DPH rules as part of a trend, one that turns ex-cons into pariahs. If a substantial part of the black population is kept forever outside the mainstream, he thinks, then we in effect consign them to further poverty and crime.
Turner's suggestions for reforming the regulations are nuanced. He understands the need for criminal background checks. He understands that employers frequently won't, and shouldn't, hire ex-cons. But his objection is that the draft DPH rules create categories that bar all ex-cons. They don't allow for discretion in looking at individual circumstances.
Turner's concerns are legitimate and I suspect that the next iteration of the DPH regulations will be far less draconian.
But did it really require a sit-in to get the point across? The department emphatically says no. Turner disagrees. Prior to the sit- in, he says, his protests got little attention. "We get arrested and we get all the press."
Perhaps. But Turner is a politician now, one who holds genuine power. Calling the proposed regulations "slavery" was needlessly hyperbolic. More disturbing, he never tried to use the political system to change the regulations. He held his sit-in knowing the department would be revising its rules. Indeed, he held the sit-in before even asking the City Council to consider the matter.
And Turner isn't stopping. On Monday he was demonstrating again outside of DPH headquarters. And three days ago a City Hall hearing he organized on another subject, a shooting by a municipal police officer, disintegrated into a shouting match. Police eventually escorted more than 30 out of the building and some councilors are blaming Turner for the mess.
Turner is unquestionably an intriguing member of the council. His commitment to issues involving poverty and racial justice is profound. And his willingness to think for himself is welcome.
But by sometimes subverting the governmental process, instead of being part of it, he may be undermining his own effectiveness. One thing's for sure: Howard Koh will think long and hard before inviting Turner back into his office.