DATE: Tuesday, March 25, 1997               TAG: 9703250070

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   76 lines

AUTHOR USES STRENGTH, SPIRITUALITY TO DEFEND INTEGRITY

CALL VERNON Kitabu Turner a smithy of the soul.

The Portsmouth native, a descendant of Nat Turner of slave rebellion fame, has reshaped the sword that is his family heritage of violence into a peaceful weapon of the spirit.

Turner, 49, of Virginia Beach, has just published his third book, ``Soul Sword.'' In succinct prose, he explains how to draw upon inner strength and spirituality to defend integrity and individuality.

Turner advises readers to seek God within themselves: ``Take your mind back from the world of knowledge and find your roots in God. . . There will be a flash of light and your soul will be your shimmering sword.''

Turner relies on an outer strength, too, to defend the inner person. He holds black belts in two of the martial arts - Wa-Jitsu and Aikijutsu. Turner was brought up in the martial arts tradition by his father.

``He did not want me to be afraid,'' remembers Turner, who lived, for a time, in the Ida Barbour public housing neighborhood.

Though a Christian, Turner calls on Eastern Zen traditions to overcome adversity and forces that attempt to control him.

``In the East, war, the warrior, is about defense - protecting the body from those who would assail you along the path,'' he says.

Recently, Turner used his strength of body and mind to prevent bloodshed in a Norfolk restaurant. ``Two men were threatening to shoot each other, saying, `You go for yours, and I'll go for mine,' '' he says in his soft, meditative voice. ``It was Sunday morning, full of people for breakfast, and I said, `There's not going to be any killing in this place. Enough already. It's bad for the appetite.' That broke it up. They were talked out of their anger, and the more vocal one left.''

Though no one can prevent him wielding his invisible soul sword, he lost the ceremonial Samurai sword given him by a master in 1994. Turner remembers the day without anger:

He was on his way to shoot a martial arts video and had stopped at a Portsmouth convenience market for coffee. He put the sword into his waistband. Suddenly, police appeared and accused him of carrying a concealed weapon. Turner was booked and charged.

At the time, Turner lived in Portsmouth and volunteered his time to the police martial arts demonstration team and newsletter.

Ultimately, the charge was dismissed. But the sword was never returned.

Turner, a direct descendant of Nat Turner on both his father's and his mother's side, is on the planning committee for the Turner family reunion scheduled for July.

According to Al Smith of Portsmouth, a retired public school guidance counselor and Turner clan member, , folks are likely to come to the reunion from as far as Florida and Ohio. A 1995 picnic reunion held elsewhere was attended by about 80 people.

Vernon Turner says that when he was 12, Nat Turner appeared to him in a dream: ``He stood in chains in the middle of fire and said, `Help me.' I said, `What's wrong,' and he said, `My people have forgotten me,' and I said, `I will not forget you.' ''

Since then, says Turner, he has ``never allowed any man to take away my dignity or deter me from pursuit of my righteous past. My life is not dependent upon externals. It is from the spirit.''

Turner, married and the father of one child, earns his living primarily as a free-lance writer. He is now at work on a recorded version of his soon-to-be-published ``Lovesong,'' a book of poetry.

Earlier works are: ``Kung Fu: The Master,'' a book of verse; and ``The Secret of Freedom,'' an allegorical novel.

``Soul Sword'' sells for $9.95 and is published by Hampton Roads Publishing Co., of Charlottesville. ILLUSTRATION: RICHARD L. DUNSTON/The Virginian-Pilot

Vernon Kitabu Turner, 49, a martial arts specialist and a descendant

of Nat Turner, has reshaped the sword that is his family heritage of

violence into a peaceful weapon of the spirit in his book, ``Soul

Sword.''

Turner advises readers to seek God within themselves in ``Soul

Sword.'' KEYWORDS: INTERVIEW

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