'Hurricane' Carter sweeps through SIUE |
Anthony Watt |
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Rubin "Hurricane" Carter spoke about his ideas on society, the criminal justice system and prison with approximately 700 people Wednesday in the Meridian Ballroom. Carter, a middleweight boxer in the '50s and '60s, had a chance at the title when he was convicted of a trio of murders he did not commit. He was given a triple life sentence and spent 20 years in prison before his conviction was overturned. "I am a survivor. A survivor of the so-called justice system," he said. "Like the survivors of the Holocaust. I am a survivor in the very same way. Only in that case, people were slaughtered because of their religion. Here it is because of the color of our skins. "When a black man in America escapes a state-sponsored execution, it is a miracle. It is miraculous," he said. Carter is pushing to free other people who may have been wrongly imprisoned including Mumia Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther who is on death row, convicted of killing a police officer. "The U.S. has more people behind bars than any other country, over two million," Carter said. "The vast majority are black. "When I do the college circuit, I see white people being educated and black people being incarcerated," he continued. "One in three black men between the ages of 12 and 27 have been tagged and are under the control of the justice system." The author or co-author of five books, Carter also helped write the movie "The Hurricane," which tells the story of his life. Carter's case drew the attention of fellow boxer Muhammad Ali, musician Bob Dylan and actress Ellen Burstyn, among others. All of them tried unsuccessfully to free him. "Over the years many people, movies, songs and books have chronicled the racial underpinnings of my case," Carter said. "Even the federal judge who overturned my conviction said it was based on racism rather than reason and deception rather than disclosure," he said. Carter refused to comply with prison rules and spent most of his time in solitary confinement because of this. He would not wear prison uniforms or eat prison food. He interacted as little as possible with prison inmates and guards. "Just because this jury of 12 misinformed people called me guilty," he said, "it did not make me guilty, and I refused to be a model prisoner when I was never a bad civilian." Carter said knowing oneself is the key to defeating racism and hatred in America. "There is a way for all of us," he said. "I did not come to this realization lightly. I came in kicking, biting and screaming." "Anything is possible if you are willing to pay the price," Carter said. "and money is not the only currency. Sometimes you leave a piece of yourself. "We have access to everything in this universe," he continued. "We already have in us everything we need to." | |