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Previous on Rubin Carter |
his response to Morin prosecutor's
appointment to the Bench | injusticebusters'
first tribute to him | Rubin
Carter's review of Sister Helen Prejean's book, Death of Innocents
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'Hurricane' reigns justice
on assembled crowd
By Kevin Bruffy, The
Lantern, Ohio State University, February 22, 2005
On the 40th annversary of the
death of black civil rights activist Malcolm X, the Hale Black
Cultural Center brought one of the nation's foremost survivors,
Rubin Carter, to the conference theater of the Ohio Union last
night to speak about his life.
The sixty-eight year-old Carter
has gained national attention over the past half century, first
for his success as a middleweight boxer in the 1960's that earned
him the nickname "Hurricane," and then for his wrongful
imprisonment for the murder of three white bar patrons in Paterson,
NJ. in June, 1966. Throughout the racially tense trial and his
18 years behind bars, Dr. Carter - who said he was often the
only African American in the court room - maintained his innocence.
He was finally released in 1985 after it was exposed that his
conviction was based on racial prejudices and not facts.
In the 20 years since his release,
Carter said he has dedicated his life to helping wrongfully imprisoned
individuals like himself find the truth to earn their freedom.
He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Southern
Center for Human Rights, the Alliance for Prison Justice, the
Association of the Wrongfully Convicted and was just named the
chairman of Innocence International last September, a program
based out of Griffith University in Australia.
"Innocence International
is a supply line for projects around the world to supply help
in proving the innocence of those wrongfully imprisoned,"
Carter said.
Carter described his dramaticly
life-changing experience in prison. The former number one contender
for the middleweight boxing championship said that after seething
in his cell for long time, he began to understand that in order
to survive prison he would have to change. No longer would he
let his hatred and bitterness for those individuals who put him
in prison control him; rather, he said he would have to seize
every opportunity that presented itself.
"What is a dream?"
he said. "A dream is hope, and hope is a dream."
Carter said his dream was to
find a way to prove his innocence. For him that came true on
Nov. 7, 1985 when he was released with the help of three individuals
from Toronto. Lesra Martin, an African American from Brooklyn
and his two adopted Canadian parents dedicated themselves to
proving his innocence in the early 1980's after Martin read Carter's
autobiography "The Sixteenth Round."
"It was an absolute miracle,"
Carter said about Martin's help in proving his innocence. "(Martin)
was totally illiterate before meeting his adoptive parents who
educated him. My autiobiography was the first book he read. When
I emerged (from prison) the darkness had not overcome me."
Carter also expressed his feelings
against the death penalty - something he narrowly avoided while
being sentenced - and the U.S. criminal justice system.
"Capital punishment (in
the U.S.) has turned the criminal justice system into an assembly
line of death," he said. "The justice (system) is not
always blind. One in three black men between the ages of 12 and
37 are in the criminal justice system. There are more black men
in this nation's jails than in it's universities."
Carter compared his survival
experience to that of the survivors of the Holocaust. The only
difference between Germany and the U.S., is that Germany persecuted
people because of religion, while in the U.S. it is because of
the color of your skin, he said.
Carter concluded his speech
by showcasing his two championship belts. Just this year he was
awarded an honorary middle-weight championship of the world title
belt, a belt he would have fought for had he not been sent to
prison 39 years before. His other belt comemorated his honorary
doctorate degree in law from Griffith University, an event he
said "transformed the Hurricane into a gentle breeze."
"I am here to bring to
you the biblical message of hope, that light shines in darkness,
and the darkness did not overtake me," he said. "Dare
to dream and believe in yourself."
Carter to speak to local
youth
Janet French, The StarPhoenix,
February 15, 2005
Former professional boxer turned
advocate for the wrongfully convicted, Rubin "Hurricane"
Carter will speak in Saskatoon Thursday at a fundraising event
for the John Howard Society of Saskatchewan.
"It's a motivational speech
and it's about justice and motivation through that," said
Mike Dunphy, provincial executive director of the society.
In 1966, Carter was a boxer
one fight away from the middleweight championship of the world
when he was wrongfully imprisoned in the murder of three men.
He spent nearly 20 years behind bars before he was acquitted
of the killings.
"He's going to talk about
how to keep oneself on the right track. Bitterness and resentment
and 20 years of his life was taken away from him, and how you
can continue going forward on the right path," Dunphy said.
"It's really not going
to be a talk on being wrongly convicted, especially with the
(inquiry into the wrongful conviction of David Milgaard) going
on here. It's a motivational talk here regarding self and about
how if you allow the bitterness (to) continue, then you lose."
The society's mandate is to
"accept responsibility for understanding and dealing with
the problems of crime and the criminal justice system in a creative,
humane and progressive manner," their website says.
Corporate sponsors have bought
tickets for many young men and women to attend the event who
will hopefully leave with a better understanding of themselves
and others, Dunphy said. A help fair will be held afterwards
to help educate and assist people who need it, he said.
"Basically this is a crime
reduction or crime prevention strategy for the John Howard Society,"
Dunphy said.
Money raised from ticket sales
at the event will help pay for the society's programs, including
a new effort to help young fathers.
"We're finding that there's
many young men in Saskatchewan that have two or three children
and are under the age of 18 that don't have a clue about parenting,"
Dunphy said. "There's no assistance. There's certainly lots
of assistance designed for parenting as a couple, but there's
really not any young men fatherhood groups. That's what we want
to do because most of those young men tend to bounce in and out
of jail."
Carter is speaking at 7:30
p.m. Thursday at Centennial Auditorium. Tickets range from $15
to $25 and are available through Ticketmaster.
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2005
Believe in dreams, 'Hurricane'
tells crowd
Lana Haight, The StarPhoenix,
February 18, 2005
Rubin "Hurricane"
Carter went from fighting for a world boxing title to fighting
for his very life.
"I have lived the nightmare
and I have survived it. I am a survivor," bellowed Carter
to a crowd at the Centennial Auditorium on Thursday night.
A professional boxer in the
mid-1960s, Carter was one fight away from becoming the world
middle-weight champion when he was wrongfully convicted of three
murders. He narrowly escaped the death sentence but spent more
than 20 years in jail before he was acquitted.
"Even lost dreams are
not always lost," he said to several hundred people at the
auditorium.
He never fought that final
match but the World Boxing Council and the World Boxing Association
eventually awarded him champion belts.
"These belts are symbols
of that great victory of substance over form," he said as
he hoisted the belts above his head to the cheers, whistles and
applause of the crowd including many who were at-risk youth and
adults given free tickets to hear the former boxer.
Carter's story attracted international
attention in the 1970s with the Bob Dylan song, Hurricane. More
recently, the story was the subject of the critically-acclaimed
movie "The Hurricane" starring Denzel Washington.
The journey from boxing star
to convicted killer to motivational speaker was not an easy one.
Carter recalled how he spent
the first 10 years of his sentence six feet underground in solitary
confinement.
"I sat in that cell for
years feasting on my hatred like a tasty steak. Hate consumed
(me)."
It was during one of his monthly
medical trips out of the dark and dingy cell that he caught a
glimpse of himself in a mirror.
"The twisted grotesque
image that glared back at me from that mirror jolted me. I saw
a monster from another world in that mirror. That monster was
me.
"I had to change the image
of myself that I saw in that mirror."
Changing meant daring to dream,
something he repeatedly urged his audience to do.
"It touched me right here
in the heart," said Paul Sarty, 34, on day parole while
serving time for drug-related charges.
"I never really believed
in myself before but now that I've listened to (Carter), I want
to try it. I'm going to start believing in myself. I'll just
take it day-by-day," he said as he waited in line for Carter's
autograph.
Brothers Jesse and Chad Morin
also wanted the autograph of the legendary Carter. They remember
their father listening to Carter's fights on the radio and were
inspired by the energy and enthusiasm he showed during his presentation.
"In a busy day you're
running around, sometimes you wonder what you're running around
for when a person like (Carter) spends 22 years in jail and he
looks at every day as a precious day. It makes you stop,"
said Jesse Morin.
The John Howard Society of
Saskatchewan sponsored Carter's talk as a fundraising event.
The organization helps people convicted of crime re-integrate
into society, works with victims and tries to find creative and
humane ways of dealing with crime.
Corporate sponsors bought 400
tickets that were distributed free-of-charge through agencies
such as White Buffalo Youth Lodge, Egadz and the federal half-way
house. Another 400 tickets were purchased through the box office.
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2005
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Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
