This week, I had the great pleasure of experiencing Amelia Island in Florida as part of an event for my new book, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.” I wanted to share a few pictures of this wonderful place, with pristine beaches and wonderful marshes lined by Spanish moss-covered trees. I am returning today to Washington to be able to join my friend and mentor, George Will, at a celebration of his legendary 50 years as a columnist. George is a national treasure who has been a voice of reason that has cut through the rage for decades of American politics. A former professor, George brought an unmatchable intellect and unique perspective to the issues that we have confronted as a nation.
Only George Will could get me to leave this wonderful place. While chilling in the morning with temperatures in the 40s, it was sunny and in the 60s for both days. My walks along the ocean and beautiful sunrises were rejuvenating.
The book event was held on the island’s marshes, which offered a lovely opportunity to walk along the estuaries and inlets.
While the island is not as warm as locations further south, Amelia Island captures Florida’s graceful, laid-back island culture. The people on this island could not be nicer and more accommodating. I cannot wait to come back to Amelia Island.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
Amelia Island looks beautiful, Prof. Turley. I doubt I will ever go there in person, making your pictures special because I can enjoy it just the same. Thank you for sharing them.
Jonathan: I’m sure Amelia Island is all that you describe–it “captures Florida’s graceful, laid-back island culture”. Sadly, the Island was not always that “laid-back”. It was a central part of the history of slavery. Something you somehow missed on your trip.
Due to its strategic location Amelia Island was the hub of the trans-Atlantic slave trade–called the “Middle Passage”. During the 1800s an estimated 60,000 enslaved Africans were brought through the Island’s port city of Fernandina Beach. Jumping to the modern era in the early 1930s Abraham Lincoln Lewis, a wealthy Black businessman, founded America Beach, which served as one of the few Florida islands open to African Americans during segregation.
I do recommend you make another trip to Amelia Island. On your next visit you should check out the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor. The Gullah Geechee are the descendants of the African slaves brought through the island. You could also visit the Kingsley Plantation. It was built in 1798 by a slaveholder, Zephaniah Kingsley. There you can explore the slave quarters, kitchen house and the gardens.
By all means, return to Amelia Island. It incapsulates the history of slavery in America. It is a painful reminder of how we still struggle with “race” in this country. But, sadly, you might not be interested in that part of the history of Amelia Island. Better to explore the the island’s marshes, estuaries, inlets and the local watering holes. That appeals to the tourist but not the true student of history.
Pedantry is not a virtue.
I don’t struggle with race in the country. And I could care less about slavery here. That was sooo 1865ish. If the colored folks are still struggling with race, then that is on them! If it was me, I would more interested in struggling to get a good education, and struggling to get married before I started having children. However, I do think about that iconic Norman Rockwell painting, where the innocent little colored girl is being escorted to school in Little Rock by the 101st Airborne division or federal marshals, whichever.This one –
https://www.amazon.com/Rockwell-Paintings-Decoration-Unframe-style-16x24inch/dp/B0CYX8SJ5X/ref=asc_df_B0CYX8SJ5X?mcid=d6410510f53b398bbd49874ef233dd4e&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=699872288611&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6947527827241852822&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9193259&hvtargid=pla-2332590789354&th=1
I wonder if that was painted today, what she woukd look like? Would she be twerking, or flashing gang signs?Would she have already lost her virginity, and have a criminal record for jacking cars? Woukd she even be going to school at all, or would she be singing PoundTown?
Jonathan: By all means, return to Amelia Island. It incapsulates the history of slavery in America. It is a painful reminder of how we still struggle with “race” in this country.
Dennis McIntyre, only you could pretend to be discussing the history of slavery in America and manage to avoid any mention that slavery was that very special economic tool of your Democratic party.
The Democratic party that is still supporting and defending the Racist In Chief still in the White House.
Dennis McIntyre’s favorite Kluxxer: Biden, who started his political career by winning election by telling his fellow Democrat Kluxxers he didn’t want his children going to schools that were full of jungle bunnies.
Biden, who told Americans that he didn’t meet a single decent, clean, well spoken and intelligent black American in his four decades in Washington DC. That is, until he met a mulatto who renounced his White Privilege wealthy upbringing so he could run for office as a po’ black chil’ from the hood instead.
Nice! Now we need to get you a real camera!
Beautiful! Glad you could relax, enjoy and shoot (pictures). Thank you for sharing them, Dr. Turley!
I’m not sure how you could ever go back to DC after spending some time here. 🙂
Once again, JT seperates himself from the American academic world. He actually likes this country and is able to appreciate many of its virtues, including its natural beauty. He does not feel the need to politicize every encounter with the world outside the academy.
“George Will is a voice of reason cutting through the rage” WTF Turley???!!!!
George Will is a proud Republican founding member of the Never Trumpers. Joining George Will as the other Never Trump voices of reason cutting through the rage over the last eight years are Jennifer Rubin, George Conway, Bill Kristol, Joe Scarborough, Chris Christy.
Oh don’t forget Liz Cheney and The Lincoln Project.
That George Will crap sentence spoiled your entire article.
Hear, hear!
George Will, anti-American, anti-Constitution RINO extraordinaire, go hide yourself.
Ipso Facto that is correct.
That is true
I could not believe the first JRub column I read. Who had given this dull housewife a job writing anything? Had she watched an editor commit murder, and the column was the price of silence?
Back in the day JRub excoriated Obama.
Professor, you are quite the photographer. What kind of camera do you use?
* Professor Turley is sharing with the public some enjoyment of nature and friends. Life isn’t all bad.
George is a national treasure who has been a voice of reason that has cut through the rage for decades of American politics.
Only matched by your other friend and national treasure, Merrick Garland, Professor Turley? Another public figure that’s also a model of probity you present for we unwashed masses of the American body politic?
Professor Turley, there’s certainly nothing wrong with you choosing people like Merrick Garland and George Will to associate with, even befriend and admire for whatever reason. Certainly nothing wrong with regaling us with a column telling us you enjoyed a day or two at the beach with your friend George Will and pretty pictures.
But puffing up George Will and how he has done his job since Trump entered politics exactly like your political party tried to puff up Border Czar Harris? Seriously?
That Democrat pig ain’t gonna fly, sir. Bull Schiff does not provide aeronautical political lift.
You didn’t notice the slightest hints of a voice of rage in your besty Georg Will’s writings about President Trump since the first day he ran for office?
You didn’t notice the dripping vitriol in some of those columns that was NEVER seen in any columns concerning Obama or other Democrat politicians? Just as it has taken you about four years go move beyond “I can’t figure out how Merrick Garland could make such a mistake”?
You never noticed the chorus of national voices pointing out that George Will was the epitome of a Never Trumper, as he grandly announced he was leaving the Republican Party because Trump destroyed it?
Never Trumpers like George Will are the model of that ‘voice of reason’ you mentioned? George Will become one of those voices of rage you complain about. Academically crafted rage for the cocktails and canapes party set, but rage nonetheless.
Let me offer you help from your fellow Democrat journalists at those cerebral even handed entities, The Atlantic and PBS:
The Never Trumper’s Next Move
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/05/the-never-trumpers-next-move/609064/
Another strong constellation of Never Trumpism was made up of writers such as the venerable columnist George Will and Bill Kristol, a co-founder of The Weekly Standard.
George Will on American conservatism and Trump’s ‘lasting damage’
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/george-will-on-american-conservatism-and-trumps-lasting-damage
What Trump brings will do more lasting damage to the country — you can’t unring these bells — than Nixon’s surreptitious burglaries did. It’s going to be extremely difficult to restore the tone of American life that prevailed from Washington through the presidency of Barack Obama.
Sophomoric whitewash jobs where you utilize Democrat Don’t Believe Your Lying Eyes™ praise and soft soap mostly serves to remind us that at your heart and soul, you are still a Democrat who lives with two standards at the ready in your toolbox to choose from, depending on the issue or the person you are are discussing.
As your good friend Dennis McIntyre once told you: “Do better”.
Don’t be one of those Democrat lawyers you wrote a few days ago made the mistaken assumption they could play the public for simple fools.
I would say you are spot on
Old Dog, perhaps you’ve forgotten? Professor Turley is himself a Never Trump’r. He’s just a little better a hiding it. He and Will are birds of a feather.
“I am returning today to Washington to be able to join my friend and mentor, George Will, at a celebration of his legendary 50 years as a columnist. George is a national treasure who has been a voice of reason that has cut through the rage for decades of American politics. A former professor, George brought an unmatchable intellect and unique perspective to the issues that we have confronted as a nation.”
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Love the photos of AI. That said, I find George Will a bit prigish for my tastes. Never mind his utter distaste for football coaches (and adoration for painfully boring baseball), but his dismissive view of Jefferson is reason enough to avoid his opinions like the plague. Here’s a sample of his ironic and patrician views on the wonderful “strong central government” we now “enjoy”:
“There is an elegant memorial in Washington to Jefferson, but none to Hamilton. However, if you seek Hamilton’s monument, look around. You are living in it. We honor Jefferson, but live in Hamilton’s country, a mighty industrial nation with a strong central government.”~ George Will
More is the pity, Georgie! Look around you, indeed,
Priggish it is.
Yep spot on
Let me put in my two pence worth! If George Will had been John the Baptist, his head would still be attached to his body. Because George would never have been so impolitic as to mention the whole adultery thing.
It is people like George Will and William Barr, and the other country club Republicans, who fiddled around while America went down the tubes, and who gave the GOP a bad name. The Patrician Class, the lah-di-dah class. You can that when they went on vacation, or a holiday trip, it was to places like Amelia Island or Vail, Colorado. They never went to Shreveport, La., Jackson, Ms., Pine Bluff, AR, Gary, IN, Detroit, MI, rural Kentucky, rural Missouri, or St. Joseph. If they had, they would have what they have helped wrought – such as:
Twenty-one years ago, my wife called George Will’s office and spoke with his assistant: “My husband admires Mr Will. Any chance Mr Will would agree to meet my husband for his 50th birthday?” So, my wife and I fly up to Washington, we stayed overnight at the Watergate, get up early and went to breakfast. “Why are we here?”, I ask. And a minute later, Mr Will walks up and says “You must be Steve. Happy Birthday”. We spent over an hour talking life, politics and (wait for it…) baseball. He picked up the tab. My wife asked his assistant why would Mr Will take the time to meet up with someone like me, out of the clear blue. His assistant: “Because you asked.”
My wife asked his assistant why would Mr Will take the time to meet up with someone like me, out of the clear blue. His assistant: “Because you asked.”
Beautiful story. Thanks for sharing.
It really is that simple: interacting with people brings many blessings, opportunities and is a mutual exchange of ideas, stories, fellowship and God’s grace. Sadly, Americans today are mostly lonely, have built walls, become isolated, resort to addictions of various iterations to “cope”, and we have become a poorer nation for it.
Last night we attended a holiday party at someone’s home, a potluck event, for members of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society chapter at our Catholic parish. Temps were in the mid-20s last night! Over 30 people attended, all were Catholic, ages 20s to 80s, medical students to former secret service agents, all focused on one thing: accompanying the poor, the marginalized, the outcast. We had planned on attending for only 1 hour because of travels today, but frankly it was a delight to be with so many interesting people, none having any malice but wishing the good of the other (the theological definition of love, per St Thomas Aquinas). This is what feeds the soul, the mind and brings out the good in the other.
America needs to get back to her roots, and we can all do it just as George Will did it for your husband.
Blessed Advent!
Great photos! If you get down to Amelia Island again, you should check out the next island north. That is Cumberland Island and it’s way more pristine than Amelia. It’s a National Park and as such hardly no development and it pretty much the same as it’s been for a looooong time. The only commercial property is the Greyfield Inn which has a lot of charm and is open to the public. My wife and I have stayed there several times.
George, “a former professor” now that explains a lot. I followed him for many years, perhaps even a few decades, but, he ultimately lost me, and I’m sure thousands of others, many years ago. Seems George isn’t immune from creating rage all by himself. 😳
You beat me to the punch. I used to respect George Will, and read him, but when he came out against Trump, I wrote him off as an academic, elitist, pinhead little snob. Why should I read someone who hasn’t got enough sense to recognize the greatness of Trump, and the message that Trump promotes??? I think that maybe somebody tied George’s bowtie a little too tight, and it cut off the blood flow to his brain.
Like a lot of people, in the 80’s and 90’s, George Will provided many political insights on ABC network. However, his elitism has gotten the best of George Will. We, mere mortals of middle class, would never understand why George Will has become such a snob in the recent years.
Ditto
Wow, I thought I was the only one that felt abandoned by Mr. Will, for whom I have great respect and followed for many years. It seemed maybe some views were so inflexible, as to make it easy to move on “intellectually” from Mr. Will say 25 years or so ago, about the beginning of the George W. Bush era, if memory serves.
Beautiful. But being naturally prejudice, I thought I was looking at beautiful Murrells Inlet, SC 😊
Thank you for sharing!
Nice photos! congratulations
Great place and great town.
Mr. Turley didn’t address the reason he was visiting Amelia Island. He was invited to speak for the U. S. Constitution Scholarship Foundation at their Year-end Speakers Forum. He did an outstanding job and received rounds of applause for his wonderful comments and stories. If you want to know about the US Constitution Scholarship Foundation just go to info@uscsf. A great organization!
Jonathan Turley visited Amelia Island to speak at the U. S. Constitution Scholarship Foundation, Inc. Turley did an outstanding job sharing his ideas and wonderful stories regarding Freedom of Speech and his new book. Over 200 people attended the event. To learn more about USCSF please go to info@uscsf