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Former
Gary Mayor Richard Hatcher
Plans to
Display Nat Turner's Skull
according
to Donna
Britt
Columnist
Washington Post Sometimes
it is near unbelievable that some of us can be so coarse --
culturally and politically backward. This morning, my
attention was brought to a piece of inane writing published by Donna
Britt, Columnist for the Washington Post
(December 6, 2002). In this
Metro column, we have the strangest yoking together of two
items -- a sexual come-on and the skull of Nathaniel Turner
(that is, sex, death, and desecration). But here's the chain and
ball of Ms. Britt's piece:
| Richard Hatcher, Gary's
mayor when I graduated from West Side High School, had
received slave revolt leader Nat Turner's skull as a
donation to his long-planned Civil Rights Hall of Fame in
my home town. . . . Mayor Hatcher was stunned when Indiana
NAACP President Franklin Breckenridge offered to donate
Turner's skull, which he'd acquired, to the planned, $10
million institution for which more than $4 million has
been collected, some by an October benefit performance by
Bill Cosby.
"I said, 'Frank, no one's going to
believe it's Turner's skull,' " Hatcher recalls. But
Breckenridge had authentication, which Hatcher says he has
verified with an Indiana University historian.
The skull will grace a high-tech
institution that recognizes contributors to the civil
rights movement and educates youngsters "who have no
real understanding or memory of it," Hatcher says.
"Thousands who never got on television made very
important contributions.
"Artifacts of the movement are
being lost every day." |
I found the story incredible -- a joke. I am
trying now to get to the bottom of it. If true it is indeed a
historical travesty. We have just had a century-old outrage
committed by France come to an end by the French government
sending to South Africa the body parts and skeleton of Sara
Baartman, the so-called Hottentot Venus, to receive a proper
burial. And now Richard Hatcher -- the former mayor of Gary,
Indiana (the first black mayor of that city), according to Ms.
Britt, will perpetuate an
act first committed by Southampton whites in 1831, desecrating
a human being, by treating Turner's remains as an
"artifact" and thereby placing Turner's body on display
for civil rights gawkers to make money!
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It is just difficult for me to believe
this story true. And worse, I find it disturbing that Ms.
Britt would use such language, like the "skull
will grace a high-tech institution." But if
Mr. Hatcher has indeed received and has authenticated the
skull, he should make haste to return it to Southampton
County, Virginia for the proper burial that Turner did not
receive in 1831 because of racist slaveholders and their
sympathizers. I am sure he does not want to be counted
among those purveyors of black flesh -- profiteers of
black bodies. |
 |
Someone needs to talk to Hatcher and pull his
coat-tail and set him aright. I advise Jesse Jackson and Bill
Cosby to speak to their friend for whom they have raised money to
support Hatcher's pet project of a civil rights hall of fame and
bid him to alter his plans. If Mr. Hatcher wants to set up a
memorial, he should facilitate one being established in
Southampton, Virginia. Turner's remains should be finally
respectfully laid to rest. * *
* * *
update 28 June 2008 |
