Alabama activist explains why she’ll never forgive Jeff Sessions

Evelyn Turner, who is eighty years old, absolutely cannot stand Jeff Sessions.

Jan 11, 2017

Evelyn Turner, who is eighty years old, absolutely cannot stand Jeff Sessions.

Turner isn’t about to forget how, 33 years ago, she and her husband, Albert, along with another man, were accused of altering ballots. All three were civil rights activists at the time, and they became known as the Marion Three.

They were indicted by a grand jury, and the U.S. attorney’s office for southern Alabama, headed by Sessions, prosecuted the case.

Although they were eventually acquitted, the Turners had to sell the family farm, and Turner lost her job. These are consequences she isn’t about to forget.

But her son, Albert Jr., a commissioner in Perry County, sees Sessions’ record a little differently.

“I know Jeff Sessions prosecuted a white Ku Klux Klan, sought the death penalty and got it for the killing of an African American,” he said. “I never saw indications he had a racist attitude or disdain for African American people or other minorities.”

In this case, the Turner family has agreed to disagree.

“My son says I should forgive him. I say I might forgive him in order to go to heaven, but I will never ever forget as long as I stay black. And I don’t see no chance of me turning white,” Evelyn said.