 You had any morning like I did I was going from one place to another and every time I looked up I said oh, it's not as late as I thought it was and then I'd look at something else and it would say no It's later than that and I realized that all my Cloud items were catching up and then all of my manuals were not I'm Elizabeth Sackler And thank you Thank you for being here Thank you for joining us today. I welcome you I'm the founder of the Sackler Center here, and I have the distinct honor and pleasure of currently being the board Chair, and I'd like to know how many of you are coming to States of Denial the illegal incarceration of women children and people of color for the first time would you raise your hand? Awesome. Thank you. Thank you for joining us. We've had two years of wonderful programming It's all available online to be seen www.brooklynmuseum.org EASCFA Slash video you can see all our previous programs which are extraordinary and If you're a Twitterer, I'm at Sackler soapbox or we have a hashtag States of Denial BKM for today It is really a huge pleasure for me to welcome You after my introduction to mr. Stevenson I'll provide right now some Background on today's programming. So will he I will watch a short video and then we'll hear from mr. Hinton and then we'll see a second video and then mr. Stevenson and mr. Hinton will engage in conversation and time permitting. I hope we will certainly have question time for questions and answers For those of you Who have read just mercy and can I ask to see a show of hands of people who have that's marvelous? That's just marvelous. I want I want to share with for those of you who haven't I I Suspect your leave here and you go right to Amazon or your local bookstore. I Want to share with you a personal anecdote? That may echo for you for those of you who have read it in 2019-1912 in 2012 mass incarceration and the horror of our policing and judicial prison system surfaced fiercely and with force New Yorker articles Michelle Alexander's groundbreaking the new Jim Crow and the new press is continuing publications on state sanctioned violence and News finally front-page news finally that continues now four years later about police violence our unjust judicial system and the horror of our systems of incarceration all systems that are replete with corruption inside and out and Unfortunately continuing when I read Brian Stevenson's just mercy. This is what it looks like I Thought as I was reading it as I opened it that I couldn't read anything that was going to give me more information Or more unbearable information Then I had already learned It was a couple of years ago that I With this book it was over the holidays Hanukkah Christmas and New Year's that's when this book That's what I was doing. I Devoured it and when I closed it I cried I cried through it and I cried after it it is and Describes things that are worse than anyone could possibly know or even Imagine and I am so grateful To Brian Stevenson for having done this work and for writing about it so that we can learn So as soon as I closed the book Brian and I for the year before had been in touch during that year to try and schedule his appearance here, but he was very busy on a book tour because Just mercy had just come out States of Denial was in its second year and He was also busy of course with his ongoing work with the Equal Justice initiative and there was Simply no room in his schedule, which I completely understood But as I turned the last page of just mercy and as I closed the book I literally at that moment pulled out my iPhone and called Brian and Perhaps he remembers this but he probably doesn't because he he's spoken with hundreds maybe thousands of people and admires at this point But I remember because I was having this one particular Conversation with Brian Stevenson and I want to share with you two sentences of that conversation I Said to Brian Brian How do you do what you do? day in and day out month after month year after year it must be devastating and He said it is hard It is hope that Sustains me That was his reply four letters HOP E hope saving grace and we all reach for that To make the world right we look in hope you must have it it guides us it fuels you and Ultimately, I do believe it is our salvation and our redemption Hope sustains us and hope keeps us fueled But hope alone as we know will not change the world It has to be supported with tenacity with clarity of purpose it has to be supported with knowledge and an impenetrable belief in truth and injustice Brian Stevenson embodies all those things He is a gift to the people whose lives he saves He is a gift to this movement to this world And I thank you Brian for your badge of hope that keeps righteousness on high and I thank him also for being here with us today at the Brooklyn Museum About Brian Stevenson Brian Stevenson is the executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama And a professor of law at New York University New York University School of Law He has won relief for dozens of condemned prisoners argued five times before the Supreme Court and won national acclaim for his work Challenging bias against the poor and people of color He has received numerous awards including the MacArthur Foundation genius grant about just mercy Brian Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative in a legal practice Dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need The poor the wrongly condemned and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillan a young man who was sentenced to die For notorious murder. He insisted he didn't commit the case drew Brian into a tangle of conspiracy political machinations and legal brinkmanship and transformed his Brian's understanding of mercy and justice forever Just mercy is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic gifted young lawyers coming of age and an inspiring argument for passion in the pursuit of true justice New York Times best-seller list named one of the best books of the year by the New York Times Washington Post Boston Globe Seattle Times Esquire and Time winner of the Carnegie Metal for nonfiction NAACP image award books for a better life award Los Angeles book prize Kirkus Reviews Prize an American Library Association Notable book Ted Conover in the New York Times book review section wrote Unfairness in the justice system is a major theme of our day This brings new life to the story by placing it in two affecting contexts Brian Stevenson's life work and the deep strain of racial injustice in American life Against tremendous odds Stevenson has worked to free scores of people from wrongful or excessive punishment the message of the book hammered home by dramatic examples of one man's refusal to sit quietly and continence horror is that evil can be overcome and a difference can be made Stevenson has been angry about the criminal justice system for years and We are all the better for it about the equal justice initiative and there are There are calendars outside for you to take with you. This is there the equal justice Well, excuse me an initiative annual report from 2015 the EJI Fights for the release of innocent people wrongly convicted and condemned to death by execution Or sent to prison for life They have won new trials for people illegally convicted and relief for those unfairly sentenced They have documented and challenged abusive conditions of confinement in state jails and prisons and have continued to fight against the persecution of children in adult court and obtain new Sentences for children who have been contend to die in prison Some as young as age 13 The EJI is committed to ending mass incarceration combining litigation and reform advocacy research reports public education a very dynamic website and Community outreach to end America's status as the world's most punitive nation with the highest rates of incarceration on the planet and With that, would you please join me in warmly welcoming today, Brian Stevenson Thank you Thank you very much. It's a great great honor for me to be here. I'm delighted To be back here in Brooklyn. It's an extraordinary honor for me in one other respect as well as was mentioned By Elizabeth, I've I've really had the great privilege over the last a year To be talking to communities across this country as a result of this book That I wrote and rarely do I get to go places where two people Critical to the creation of this book are in the room with me. And so I really can't Mistaking this opportunity to thank two extraordinary people Who made this book possible and I'm just deeply Indedit to both of them for the way in which they have allowed us to kind of show people this world I I don't think I have radical perspectives and views on a lot of these issues I believe if most people saw what I see on a regular basis, they would want change They would demand change I think if most people understood the things that I understand about what we're doing to people in this system of incarceration and excessive punishment they would want change and I've been really Encouraged by how this book has allowed me to kind of share that perspective with other people But it wouldn't be possible if I hadn't been really fortunate just almost it was a miracle to be connected with Who I think is the most talented Thoughtful and visionary editor in America, and I'm really thrilled that he's here tonight And I'd like Chris Jackson to please stand so I could acknowledge his wonderful guidance in this project He's very modest, but he is changing the way we think and talk about issues of race and justice And I'm really grateful for that and another person who is here tonight this project would not have been possible I was very reluctant to engage in taking time to write a book to kind of take time away from my clients My work, but this persistent and very kind and thoughtful Person led me to understand certain things about what was possible, and he's been an incredible friend and guide and Manager for me, and it's my incredible literary agent. Mr. Doug Abrams. I'd like him to stand So there are these realities that that we have to know about we are a very different country today than we were 40 years ago in 1972 there were 300,000 people in jails and prisons today There are 2.3 million The United States now has the highest rate of incarceration in the world and it's not just the people who are in prison That have been affected by this era of over incarceration We have 6 million people on probation or parole in America There are 70 million Americans with criminal arrests Which means that when they try to get a job or try to get a loan they are disfavored They are burdened by that arrest history The percentage of women going to prison has increased 640 percent in the last 20 years 70% of these women are single parents with minor children Which means that when they go to jails or prisons their children are displaced and you're dramatically more likely to end up in prison If you are the child of an incarcerated parent There are collateral consequences this past weekend in Alabama was the anniversary of the summit of Montgomery March last year There was the 50th anniversary and the president came and members of Congress came and 80,000 people came To participate in the 50th anniversary celebration of the summit in Montgomery March Which led to the voting rights act and very few people who came to Selma had any idea that today in Alabama 31% of the black male population has permanently lost the right to vote as a result of a criminal conviction What we have done to disenfranchise and marginalize people of color is a real crisis And we've got to do something about that, but then there's this other phenomenon that we haven't addressed. I Believe that today in America. We have more innocent people in jails and prisons than we have ever had in our nation's history thousands of people Innocent and we cannot understand what a tragedy that is we cannot understand how Challenge we ought to be by that phenomenon until we begin to know the stories of some of these people And I was eager to come here to do this event today because I am able to do it with an incredible human being One of my clients. Mr. Anthony Ray Hinton. Mr. Hinton spent 30 years on Alabama's death row for crime. He did not commit It was excruciating it was devastating He went to death row in 1985 before there were ATMs before there was an internet before all of the technology that many of us have Been dealing with and he spent these long years He witnessed 50 some people go to the execution We talked at times He would talk about smelling the flesh burning on the day after these executions and yet he did something extraordinary He didn't just survive. He became this voice of hope and Possibility and what excites me about today is that this time last year mr. Hinton was locked down in a cell If we had scheduled this last year, I couldn't have done this with him But today he is free and he is here with me and it can't tell you how moved and honored And I ex and excited I am about that over the last year I've been giving talks and I've been talking about how I don't think we can change things until we get Proximate until we change narratives until we allow our hope to lead us to do uncomfortable things And what I wanted to do today was to give you an opportunity to get close to this remarkable human being this survivor This exonerate this person who was wrongly condemned because in his story is the story of our nation and the challenges that we face and the opportunities that we have to do more justice I Have been representing people on death row for 30 years I've been representing people in prison for the same time and usually when I go to jails in prisons. I'm tolerated Sometimes I'm challenged by correctional staff who are hostile sometimes I'm even a blocked and and threatened and menaced and during my time representing people in jails in prisons That was pretty much the range of my experiences until I started working on mr. Hinton's case And I had the great privilege of representing him for 16 years and something really extraordinary happened when I would show up to the prison I'd have guards asking me when you're going to get Ray Hinton out I had guards questioning me about how he could be on death row when it was so clear He was innocent and his witness was so powerful that it actually changed the people around him That is the strength of his testament. That is the strength of his character and I'm really deeply deeply honored To be able to share the stage tonight with him We'd like to show you a video just to give you some context for his case And then I'd like to bring mr. Hinton to the stage to talk to you about his experience before we carry on the conversation So with that Let me warmly ask you to in to welcome mr. Hinton followed by the video and then mr. Hinton will join the stage Thank you very much For 30 years, Anthony Ray Hinton was a dead man walking Prosecution seen being to take my life from me 58 years old Hinton lived more than half his life inside a cage Home and correctional facility in southern, Alabama today. He's seeing and experiencing things for the first time in decades He is welcomed home a party in his honor posted by the equal justice initiative Led by attorney Brian Stevenson and his team of attorneys who fought for decades to win Hinton's freedom Thank you for giving me my life back just being him as a team You can say that you got him some man off there for his nightmare began in 1985 Ronald Reagan was president back to the future was a box office hit and under the cover of darkness To Birmingham restaurant managers were shot dad at closing time just months apart a third victim another man who survived the shooting and helped identify 29-year-old Anthony Ray Hinton as the killer You're a free man now. What does that mean to you? I mean everything. I mean You never think about your freedom Until it's taken away from you couldn't put a price tag on it So much about the world has changed but the greatest still is a world without his mother She died while he was locked away It can't get no lower for me I'm not a Shame or I'm proud of that supposed to love of my life He goes back to the home. They share together now a band kind of hate to see it in this shape It's his first time there since the night it was all taken away This is the room where Hinton's mother kept her 38 caliber revolver police said it was the murder weapon Hinton's court appointed public defender hired a supposed ballistics expert to dispute the prosecution's claim about the murder weapon a Persuasive expert he was not so his ballistics expert was blind in one eye. Yes, that's correct He had to ask how to turn on the machine. He couldn't see it. He had to ask Somebody please help me. So when they put him on the stand as my witness They crucified him I said They gonna find me guilty Hinton was sentenced to death He was ordered to spend the remainder of his life in prison living aside a five by seven cell Pretty much sleeping on feet of position because your feet hang over the bed You only have a bed that is mounted to the wall and I'll talk And that's what I lived in for 30 years. They took my 30s my 40 my 50, but what they couldn't take was my joy. I couldn't do a claim about the years But I could control my joy 53 inmates were executed at Holman while Hinton was on death row. My dog's memory would be seen so many people that I got to know Be executed he languished in prison for years before his case reached appeals court I was had never been so convinced of someone's innocence than I had in mr. Hinton's case No one asked the judge Sue Bell Cobb was one of those appellate court judges who believed his story There was no incriminating evidence. He didn't have anything from the robbery. There were no fingerprints This is extremely unusual. His appeal was denied, but his team kept fighting We'd exhausted every state court appeal and it was the United States Supreme Court that finally intervened the result was a new trial The break Hinton had been waiting for but just a few weeks ago The state of Alabama dropped the case after a new look at the evidence could not match the bullets to the gun and Hinton was released Since I've been locked up for 30 years and finances is tight I Don't sense any bitterness. Why is that bitterness kills the soul? I Cannot hate because my bow would teach me not to hate I've seen hey that is worse What would it profit me? to hate I Want you to know there is a God He said hi, but he looks low He will destroy but yet he will defend and he defend me in his four minutes film Cannot tell you that 30 years of pure hell that I went through I went through 30 years of pure hell Because I was born black and poor Make no mistake about the prosecution knew That I was innocent but yet When you have the power to send an innocent man to death row When you're racist And that is exactly what they did 30 years ago. I had Made a mistake Still a stand outside. I came inside and my mom She asked me and she said are you going to revolve the night and I said yes, ma'am She's where you got time to go out there and cut the grass And I looked at my mom and I said mama I cut the grass tomorrow And my mom looked at me and she said I'm trying my best To see how you got out cut the grass tomorrow out of go cut the grass and One would have to know my mother when she tell you to do something you go out and you do it And so I went on outside and I Filed up the lawnmower and I began to cut the grass and about 15 minutes into cutting the grass I Happened to look up and there was two white gentlemen Standing at the edge of the porch. I Cut the lawnmower off and I asked them. I said can I help you and they said yes We're looking for Anthony Ray Henson. I said that would be me How can I help you? They identified themselves as a lieutenant and a Sergeant of the best man police department Again, I said well, how can I help you? And they said well right now we have a warrant for your arrest We would like for you to place your hand behind your back I did as I was told and I asked them What am I being arrested for and they said we will explain that to you later So they had every intentional care and put me in the squad car, but I Kind of balked. I said I want to go inside and tell my mother that I'm being arrested for something And one of the detectives said we can't let you go inside and we stood there and we argued for about 15 seconds 30 second and the other detectives and let him go in and tell his mother he'd be an arrestor. I Go in the house and I show my mom the handcuff and like any good mother She began to scream and holler. What are y'all doing with my baby? And I said baby literally because I am the baby of ten five boys and five girls One of the detectives said take him on out and I'm gonna stand here and talk to his mother now On my way to jail They asked me did I own a pistol and I said no They said do your mother on the pistol and I said yes My mom taught me to tell the truth She always taught me to stand up She said do not ever throw a rock and hide your hand if you was man enough to throw that rock Be man enough to say you throw that rock So I told them the truth that my mom had a pistol and they went back and retrieved the pistol They had no one but my mom gave them the pistol thinking it would help me They come and they can't mean to jail and On my way to jail. I asked this detective Fifty time What am I being arrested for and Detective never would answer and I guess on the fifty first He finally answered he turned around and he said you want to know what you've been arrested for I said yes, sir He said first-degree robbery first-degree kidnap and first-degree attempted murder I said man you got the wrong person He continued to look at me and he said I don't care whether you did or not But you're gonna be charged with it. You're gonna be found guilty for it He said there's five things that gonna find you guilty. Would you like to know what they are? I said yes, sir He said number one you're black Number two a white man is gonna say you shot him whether you shot him or not again. I don't care He said number three you're gonna have a white prosecutor Number four you're gonna have a white judge and number five all count You're more like we're having all white jewelry He said, you know what that spell? And he repeated the word conviction Conviction conviction conviction conviction And so I go to jail and I asked this detective I Said what time what date did this crime take place and he go through his file and he tell me I said couldn't have been me For I was at work at that time. I gave him a supervisor name I gave him the number where he could call and check and apparently they did something and He come back probably within two hours and he said We're not charging you for those three crime We now officially charging you with two counts of first degree murder. I didn't even know what capital murder was He explained it to me and I went before judge The judge asked me could I afford an attorney and I told him no he said a great state of Alabama will appoint you one and He called his lawyer up and told this lawyer that he wanted to represent me in two capital murder trial The lawyer did not ask me my name He looked at me and he said I did not go to law school to do pro bono work And I looked at the lawyer and I said Would it make a difference to you? If I told you that I was innocent The lawyer looked back at me and he said all of y'all Always saying you didn't do something And so I leaned in jail for two years and I went to trial and they found me guilty of capital murder known D. 77 1987 I was sentenced to death row And for three years once I got to death row I Did not sell word to anyone It was as though God had just taken my vocal cord and every time an officer would ask me my name I asked me anything I would write it on a piece of paper and One night going into the fourth year a inmate I Heard him crying and I asked him what was wrong and he told me that he had got worried that his mother had passed and I told him look at it That now he had someone in heaven that was all in his case before God and I told him a joke and we began to laugh and the next morning My sense of humor Kicked in often tell people I was born with two things. I Was born with a mother that loved at me Unconditioned and I was born with a sense of humor My sense of humor kept me so far till I began to believe that I was somewhat counter-crazy myself I'll imagine things While I was there Imagine having tea with the Queen and I imagine that Queen actually mean But you kept for a spot to tea And I would tell the Queen well, of course And she would actually mean what would I like in my tea and I would tell her a spot to lemon And so that is how I was able to cope being in a five by seven. I even imagine Marrying and I married two of the most beautiful women that I think God had the privilege of making and one of them was Halle Berry and the second Was Sandra Bullock And so I tell people they asked me why did you do that and I tell them that when you live in a five by seven for 24 hours a Day you have to allow your mind to be free My body was there, but my mind soared my mind went everywhere. I went to France and I Wrapped up so many frequent mileage that after Disease and vener you want to buy in the frequent mileage come see me But as I sit there and begin to wonder how am I going to Get my case overturned how am I going to get my freedom? I Never did think about it For I also was born and was made to believe in God. I was also made to believe in faith and have faith And so one day a guard come to my cell and he said mr. Hinton you have an attorney I said I don't have an attorney. He's with someone out there pretending to be an attorney And I said okay, he's we'll get up and put on your clothes and go out there and talk to him and I go out there and he tell me Somebody about a name of mr. Brad steves and had asked him to represent me He told me his name and he told me he was from Boston I didn't know mr. Stevens and I never heard of mr. Stevens and I didn't know anything about Eji But when he said he was from Boston I said I wish mr. Steven had checked with me before he sent you down here for I am a beloved Yankee fan. I Said I don't know how Yankee and the Boston Attorney gonna get the way work together. I said but for your sake. I'm willing to put my personal feeling aside And let you work on my case And for two years He worked on my case And he came to see me on the third year and he said mr. Hinton I'm trying to get you a life without parole And I looked at him and I said life without parole for guilt in a guilty people not innocent people I said so since you feel that I'm guilty. I need someone that believe in me. I Said today This is where we part when you go out the front though Don't worry about coming back. I need someone to work on my case that believe in me And he said you sure I say I am And so I goes back taught my sale and I'm telling myself you've got to be the dumbest person in the world You fired the only lawyer that you had and as I go back the lawyer jail That I fired he goes and I go back to my sale and one of the guards is watching TV and Lord and behold as mr. Brian Steve was alone TV and I asked the guard. I said who is that? He said that's Brian Steven He's against the death penalty Allen Montgomery, and I said well be quiet. Let me hear what the man is talking about And I listened and I loved it what he was saying and I knew that I had to write this man But I didn't know how I was going to write him because most people say I Must be a doctor in another world because you cannot Understand my handwriting But that night I began to write mr. Stevenson and it was as though something took my hand and wrote the perfect letter I remember saying that mr. Stevenson my name and I was innocent I remember telling me that I cannot afford to pay him for his time But I will be more than willing to pay him from his gas to come down and talk to me I told him in my letter if he could find just one Tread Evidence that point to my guilt don't worry about coming. I would take whatever Punishment that the state was giving me I received the letter from mr. Stevenson Replying that he will read my Case and he will get back in touch with me and shoot of his word Approximately four months later I Got a letter that he had made an appointment with the prison to come see me and when he came The moment the moment I shook his hand. I knew That God had sent me his best. I Felt something That to this day I cannot describe And we sit down we talked about my case and I looked at mr. Stevenson and I said mr. Stevenson I need you to do something for me and he said what is that? I said I need you to hire a ballasted expert Mr. Stevenson looked at me and he said Well, I was gonna do that anyway And I said no mr. Stevenson not explaining myself right I need you to hire a Ballisted expert, but I need I Need this ballistic expert to be white I Need him to be from the south I need him to believe in the death penalty. I Said but more important All that acts of him is to tell the truth and mr. Stevenson Left me that day and he said I will do my best to try to find That type of person Four months later The guards come and say call your lawyer and I call mr. Stevenson. He's array. I Hired two experts out of Texas And one of them out of Virginia They testified 98% of the time for the prosecution They send men to death row They never helped get them off death row And I asked mr. Stevenson. I said did you say to him from Texas and one of them for Virginia? He said yes, I Said well, they don't get no southern Then Texas and Virginia I Said when would they be coming? They checked the bullets and mr. Stevenson said well, I don't know but they will come and I Said okay. Thank you. We hung up late on Mr. Stevenson told me What I already knew That all three of them came at different times and they test the bullets And they all came back with the conclusion That the bullets did not match the way the state said they did for the state of Alabama Took 30 years of my life And while that 30 years was going on I Received the sad news that my mom Had passed. I don't think there's a young man in the world that loved his mother more than I did I Wasn't born with money. I wasn't born with a lot of things, but I was born with a mother That I could talk to that loved it mean And At that moment I began to say well, I don't care what the state do My mom is gone. I have no reason to live And I heard a voice say I Did not raise you to be a quitter. I did not raise you to quit you fight You prove that you're innocent And I call mr. Stevenson and I said mr. Stevenson. I want you To do whatever it takes To win my freedom And mr. Stevenson said okay, Ray. We gonna give it our best And he came down one day and he said I Am tired of fooling with the judges in Alabama. I Want to send your case to the United States Supreme Court and mr. Stevenson told me If I lost it at the United States Supreme Court level, what would happen and I asked mr. Stevenson, I said do you have any change in your pocket and he said yes I said will you buy me a co-colder at the machine and he said yes, would you like some chips? I said no just to cope at that moment After listening at the possibility I Pray Instead of that being coke in that can I hope it was full of whiskey Because I didn't feel that no man should make enough a Decision off a soft drink. He need a stiff drink But I took a swallow that coke and I slammed the can down on the table like they're doing back in the Western days And I told them mr. Stevenson. I said you are the one that went to Harvard You do what you feel is necessary Mr. Stevenson said good. I'm gonna fight it and I'm gonna send it to the United States Supreme Court Two years later the United States Supreme Court did something that they never have done in the history of the court They ruled nine to zero that I was entitled to a new trial and I thought I was going home After finding out what I know that the bullets didn't match mr. Stevenson Petitioned three different attorney generals in Alabama and asked them to just retest the bullets But my life Didn't matter to anyone and I had to sit on death row For an extra 16 years When all they had to do was retest the bullets, but they refused to do so And so finally We goes to Birmingham in the DA office Now played tricks and they accused EJI Are not turning the gun over The gun had been lost The judge granted them on two-week state They find the gun and they come back now. They said they can't find the bullets And I had to stay in jail An extra two months and on April the third 2015 I Walked out of a free man But in that being free Every morning I Still wake up at 3 a.m. expecting someone to holler breakfast Because on death row they feed you every morning at 3 a.m. Because it is The law that they have to wake you up and offer it to you whether you eat it or not. I find myself Still a shower and every day I Still shower sometime every other day Because that's how you shower on death row. I Haven't been out a year. I Want you to know that 30 years? Eight months nine months a year will not erase 30 years That house that you seen that was in bad shape through generous donation. I've been able to fix it and I have What I think some of the nicest furniture that you could look at After sleeping in a fetus position for 30 years, I went out and I bought this king-sized bed. I Didn't just buy any king-sized bed. I bought a California king-sized bed The problem with that is I still yeah, I still cannot sleep Scratched out in that big bed. I still Bring my knees up to my chest. I have this beautiful shower Instead of showering every day Two times three times a day. I find myself Showering every other day, but I want you to know today That I forgive those racist white men that put me in prison They haven't asked me to forgive them. I forgive them Not so they can sleep at night. I Forgive them so I can sleep at night. I Forgive them so I can enjoy The rest of my life. I Forgive them so I can enjoy all of the things that God create Well, most of you do not pay the Sun the moon the stars any attention I go out every night and I look at the moon and I look at the stars Because I was denied that privilege for 30 years Most of you went out of the rain I run into the rain because rain was not allowed to fall on my body for 30 years I believe That when you lose something and When it's finding ways back to you you should love it even more I Love life more than I ever have The things that I used to take for granted. I do not take those things for granted anymore There's two little birds that waits on me every morning Before they begin to talk and I sit there and I watch them that was a time I would not have paid those birds in attention But being on death row for 30 years of a sale that is no bigger than your bathroom It makes you appreciate life No one in Alabama have yet to apologize to me For the 30 years that they brought me off I Had The undone pleasure of smelling human being that was literally Set on fire by the electrician. I have to Try to make every day the best day that I can I'll try to put one foot forward And every day I am determined To make someone smile I Will never treat anyone the way that I was treated because I believe That what this world need is love and I believe That if anyone can show anyone in the kind of compassion in love it is I For I do not hold anyone I Do not hate I do not think about those men That literally put me on death row for something that I didn't do and Enclosing I Would like for everyone in this room to try Imagine being in a five by seven and after you imagine being on a five by seven Imagine being there for 30 years and after you imagine being there for 30 years Try to imagine Being there for something that only you and God know that you didn't do Thank you. So you really cannot appreciate The consequences of what I think our collective indifference have done has done on this issue of mass incarceration until you start Getting to know people like Anthony Ray Hinton and I've told lots of people that No one has inspired me more. No one has encouraged me more than mr. Hinton and We would be on death row sometimes in the visitation room and The way the appeals process works is that you'll file something and you'll get a ruling We kept filing things and things would go so well at port We had the hearings where we put on these experts that mr. Hinton was describing. They did great Nobody contradicted the thing they said We had the witnesses come in everybody was reinforcing his case and it was Difficult to go to a hearing like that and have everything go perfectly And then get a call saying that our motion for relief had been denied And it felt like I was always calling mr. Hinton and saying the court has denied relief and denied relief and denied relief And I would go down there and sometimes and we'd talk about it was so painful and heart breaking And yet it didn't take us long before we'd be talking And he would say something to me that would make me laugh if we'd be in the visitation room just laughing And there was this dynamic that came out of all of Which was in so incredibly challenging but at the same time inspiring and so I just love being in public places like this With the opportunities like the opportunity I have right now To say to you mr. Hinton how grateful I am how privileged I am To have had the great fortune to have stood by your side and represent you along this journey You have made my career and the work that I do so much more meaningful And I believe that you've got even more to share with the world that can make us appreciate the demands of justice The need for justice but more than that the importance of forgiveness and Compassion and so I want to thank you publicly in this space for taking the time to do what you do and sharing your heart So freely thank you So so I want to begin by just asking a couple of questions about re-entry so in the day That we walked out of that jail It was a kind of an overcast day and people think that this is made up But it's not it was an overcast day and we walked out you walked out first and your family was there You saw some of that in the video and it did seem like as soon as you walked out The Sun began to shine a little bit and we talked to the press and all of that But the world has changed a lot Since when you went to prison and we did some interviews and things like that And I know your great friend Lester Bailey was there there and he Picked you up and and I'd like you to just kind of talk about where you went immediately after You came out the jail and what that experience was like because because there was things were different. There was technology I'm getting out of prison Lester my best friend, which I didn't mention Stayed by my side for 30 years. He came to see me every month 278 miles one way and He kept telling me Everything have changed everything had changed and I said, okay, so I get out on Good Friday. I Go to church on Easter Sunday and I noticed the Urschers get up and they go back toward the back and I'm watching them. I got $22 in my pocket And I see him get these old time I Called him collection plate and he come by and I go in my pocket and I breach and I give him $20 I'm thinking he gonna ask me how much I want to give He keep the whole 20 I Don't say nothing because I'm in guard house and I want to say hey, right me some change What I didn't So he come back again And I give them last two dollars and out the church. I tell my best friend I see you lied to me in 56 years We've been on each other and you tell me a lie and he said what's what you talking about? I said you told me everything had changed. I said they still passing those old collection plate around everything have not changed And so when we leave church and up the day that I got out I Asked him to take me To the place where they laid my mom Because I didn't know where she was buried And he said okay, we're getting this car and I don't know that you remember he got this nice escalator and Just the two of us when we get in there We going down the road and all of a sudden Some white lady come on and say in one tenth of a mile Turned she said in one tenth of a mile turn right And I said what the hell I said where's that white lady at and He just died laughing. I said you didn't hear that white lady He just laugh and I said listen a white lady in this car. I know didn't nobody get in that car But me and my best friend I Wanted to know how did she get in that car better yet. What is she doing in this car? And he just laughing and he pointed What I thought was the radio I should know this was in the radio he pointed. He said that's a GPS tractor He said she will tell us everywhere We need to go win the turn And I found that to be amazing that modern technology Had rigged up something now that you can just punch in and they'll tell you Zach But the white lady scared me You have to remember I went to prison because of white people and I'm still kind of lyrical white people I thought it was a trick, but that's It's been it's been really Amazing to see each month go by You know when when you first got out that day and I'd gotten you a little iPhone We were playing with it and you know Then you did some other things and and you got an email and you've been making this progress What do you think is You've been able to adjust to the most in the last 11 months And what do you think you still haven't been able to adjust to very much? I've been able to adjust to the infrastructure When I left most of the road was just too laying highways now you got this interstate this technology is The telephone and I look out in the audience and Perhaps someone can tell me this text I Don't understand why you text somebody when you can just call them each other What you want and my little niece she always telling me Uncle Ray I can group text 15 people And I said why would you want 14 other people know what you're talking about? and I just Be in old school think that Texan is Kind of lazy just pick up dialing numb and just tell whoever you want or what it is, but There's so much that I Feel that I have been cheated off I still yet do not know how to download and I hear you can get some free music I don't know how to download that I Can hear you can get some free movies. I don't know how to do that But the phones and everything is so unique and It just shows you that how great man mind is that you can put a phone in your pocket and I Even learned how to my best friend. I gave him a different call from anybody. Everybody's Number rain just regular rain. He has got a special tone to it and and no matter where I hear that rain and I run to the phone because it's him and I'm just trying to learn How in the world at this modern technology? Come from when I used to be in the street I used to see men's clamming telegram pole and now you call the other day I was down in Montgomery and something was wrong my phone and the lady said All your messages up in the cloud and I'm looking up in Don't know what you mean by cloud, but the guy that was with me was trying to explain to me and I Know it kept saying Megabytes and I still don't know what a megabyte there and I just don't ask people because I don't want to feel I Really don't want to feel dumb to some people. I don't want people to look at me and say wow For those that don't know me where you've been for the last 40 years, you know I pretend like I know what they're talking about and I'm saying when they leave with the hair She just say So I just go that way but modern technologies is something that I don't believe that I will be able to catch up because When I got out You had the privilege of handing me an I5 Now they talk about I6 Somebody told me where they coming out with I7 I said they can come out with whatever they want I ain't trying to come out with men enough, but this I find and like I say it's so much on them that I haven't learned I Got lost about three weeks ago and my best friend said you got a map on your phone. Oh, you got to do is tell it I Don't know how to go on in tell it first from where I want to go in and people don't have time to just sit And go over stuff with you. Everybody in the hurry. So I just try to leave that time Other day I had an appointment and I needed to be that nine. I left at six So I make sure I get that and but if I had known how to work the Modern technology I could have left with a decent hour and got there, but Hopefully one day I can catch up a little bit better than what I am now Well, I think you're doing remarkably well because you were sending Emails and how to send them back. So I think you're doing great What do you think it's been the hardest to kind of make the justice? I know you've talked about Still not being able to get out of that routine that rigorous restrictive routine that they have people on on the row What do you think has been hardest? I think the hardest is you know when I got out of prison The state of Alabama did not offer me any type of Psychological help I Don't believe any of us is was created to survive 30 years on the cage I Do believe that there is something Mentally Wrong with me. I tried my best to ignore that find myself thinking more of being on death row then perhaps I should But for instance as I said every morning, I'm up at 3 a.m And I get up and I cannot go back to sleep Doctors I went to my doctor and he gave me some medicine and I Do believe that mine over mine is more scroll that medicine did not help me at all 15 minutes to three every morning I'm up and I sit up and most of the time I read and I asked myself did I shower? yesterday and If I convinced myself, yeah, you shall yesterday For when we was on death row. You just kind of like washed up in the sink so those prison mentality is still on in my mind and When it get dark I begin to Look for a correction officer to say hey, it's time to go in I Have the privilege of opening my cabinets and Eating whatever I want to eat But believe it or not when you get used to prison food other food just don't taste the same And so I'm trying to learn how to get my palate back. But one thing I can say is that I can cook Perhaps the best homemade red velvet cake In any one. Oh, you can definitely do that. I'm a witness to that absolutely People ask me every day, you know, how do you try to survive and I have to believe that Through God strengthen me and I have to believe that there is something better and I cannot afford to just relax and Have an anyone called on every day I make sure that I am Surrounded by people When I first got out I was going to restaurant and I would ask the waitress which you mind signing your name So If something came back up, I could say I was there at this restaurant and that waitress She signed her name because I went to prison As they said because I couldn't give an account where I was the night of the crime so I Still now come out and I live every day in more like a diary Wherever I go, I make sure someone remember that I was with them at that particular time and every night I'm at home by myself I Get on the telephone because I'm told that They can track exactly where you was with the phone and so if something come up I can say well, I was at home in my living room talking to whoever and so on I Don't think as I said a year is going to erase 30 years I've been deeply scarred and I think it's gonna take some time Before I can really feel secure about where I'm at and where I'm around I make sure that I Lead that house door every morning Life have taught me This trust factor is gone. I didn't know anyone in this order And if I had met them I would trust them My mom told me a long time ago trust people to they give you a reason not to trust them and now I Only trust two people I Trust you and I trust my best friend Luster I know that might sound somewhat cold But that's what 30 years have done to me. I Still believe in treating people with respect But when someone say they want to do something when someone asked me I just don't have that trust That I once had and I would love for that to come back because that's who I am So so I want to talk a little bit. We're going to open this up for questions in a bit, but I do want to talk about Mr. Hinton's experience in the context of this trauma because Go-through would not be challenged Traumatized by that and I want to put it in a broader historical context before we open things up in many ways When I was a young lawyer I thought all I had to do was go to court and I The court I've told him this he knows this we asked a lot of sleep on this I couldn't understand with the so overwhelmingly clear Why did people keep saying? Deny not gonna let him go. It was so clear There are cases of people who are innocent who've been wrongly convicted where the evidence is not clear There's you know, there's competing evidence There's something that's a little tricky and in those cases you can reconcile while some people are saying no He's guilty and why he's not but there are other cases like There was no evidence of guilt we knew exactly where he was Yeah The state persisted they didn't have a single piece of evidence that would persuade them we had discredited the ballistics We had discredited the gun have kept saying thing in and what occurred to me That The victimization Long Do you want me to use this one? Let me I can do this. Let me stop here and open it up for questions for everyone I want to thank everybody for being I think we'll just do we have time for the video Okay, so we'll show the video then we'll take the questions In 1619 when the first Africans were brought to the British colonies by ship to Jamestown, Virginia They held the legal status of servant But as the region's economic system became increasingly dependent on forced labor We descended into slavery The institution of American slavery developed as a permanent hereditary system centrally tied to race Millions of black people were forcibly taken from Africa Crammed on ships and brought to the Americas through a dangerous and deadly journey that crossed the Atlantic Millions died Once on our shores slavery deprived the enslaved person of any legal rights or autonomy and Granted the slave owner complete power over the black men women and children legally recognized as property an Ideology of white supremacy a narrative of racial difference was created to rationalize and justify the continuation of slavery American slavery was often brutal barbaric and violent In addition to the hardship of forced labor enslaved people were maimed or killed by slave owners as punishment for working too slowly Visiting a spouse living on another plantation were even learning to read enslaved people were also sexually exploited The United States Congress finally banned the importation of slaves from Africa in 1808 slavery was widely considered a gross human rights violation yet enslavement was retained and persisted the 1808 declaration caused the demand for slave labor to skyrocket in the lower south and The domestic slave trade grew to meet this demand between 1808 and 1860 the enslaved population of Alabama grew from less than 40,000 to more than 435,000 slave traders chained African Americans together in cuffles and forced them to march hundreds of miles from the upper south To the lower south steamboats carried slaves along the Alabama River Rail routes constructed with slave labor brought hundreds of enslaved people to Montgomery, Alabama Every day turning the city into one of the largest slave trading communities in the United States Enslave people would be paraded up Cumber Street to slave warehouses and slave depots The city's slave market was at the artesian basin now known as court square Enslave people of all ages were auctioned along with livestock standing in line to be inspected Public posters advertising the sale of slaves included gender age skill complexion owners name and price slavery in America Traumatized and devastated millions of people Husbands and wives parents and children could not protect themselves from being sold away from each other Enslaved families were separated at an owner's or auctioner's whim never to see each other again The domestic slave trade separated nearly half of all enslaved people from their spouses and parents in 1833 the Alabama legislature banned free black people from residing in the state Meaning that enslavement was the only legally authorized status for African Americans Even as the Civil War raged slave trading in Montgomery flourished well into the mid 1860s after the Confederacy's surrender in 1865 Congress passed the 13th Amendment which prohibited slavery nationwide Except as a punishment for crime, but in many former slave states slavery did not end. It's simply evolved Southern whites angry after losing the war targeted black people who were largely abandoned by the federal government in the 1870s For decades black men women and children were tortured Terrorized and killed by mobs and violent lynchings oppressed by a system of racist laws and customs For another 100 years black people were racially segregated Denied the right to vote education and basic dignity They were humiliated beaten or killed for minor offenses or for protesting the civil rights movements of the 1950s and 60s Help to end legally authorized racial segregation, but racial bias still persists today a presumption of guilt is Assigned to many people of color who are disproportionately arrested convicted of crimes and sent to prison African Americans are six times more likely to be sentenced to prison for the same crime as a white person One in three black males born today can expect to spend time in prison during his lifetime Police violence against black people is so epidemic that civil rights demonstrations have shut down cities across the u.s As thousands of people marched to protest police brutality Many states celebrate the era of slavery with Confederate holidays and by honoring the defenders and architects of slavery While ignoring the history of enslavement The Equal Justice Initiative believes that racial bias remains a serious problem and is a direct and lasting legacy of American slavery and our failure to deal with the history of racial injustice The Equal Justice Initiative seeks to foster an honest conversation about the legacy of slavery about mass incarceration and Racial inequality and how it still affects millions of people today We can confront and overcome bias and discrimination Please join us in this conversation so that we can move forward Together oh, thanks before I take the first question. I just wanted to acknowledge that made possible by the incredible artwork of Artists and activists named Molly crab apple and I urge you to look for her work and to support at any time you see it So I want to thank her for helping us put that together. Yes, ma'am first question. I Have a question and a statement first question. Are you part of the Kellogg Foundation's initiative? Yes, yeah, yes We are part of that initiative and and I'm proud to have their support our work is a little different We're not we don't think of this as sort of racial healing as much as we think of it as truth and reconciliation That we've got to tell the truth about this We can't make people reconcile themselves to that truth But I think the truth telling has to happen first and hopefully people will be motivated to do that truth It's the first word in the the new initiative Wonderful and yeah, and the thing I want to say which is I think will be controversial Is that my great-great aunt was murdered in? Central Ohio and they're in 1905 and there had been a lynching in Central Ohio Springfield, Ohio the year before there was extremely brutal The lynchings in the north may not have we don't I don't know Are frequent as they were in the south, but they happen They the local mob gathered and they found a young black man that they Sure had done it and they were about to lynch him when the local sheriff Got him out of town They he it worked He they decided he wasn't guilty But no one ever Investigated further the murder of my great-great aunt and I want to propose that White women and the violence against white women was masked by the lynching of the black men accused and And the focus on the impunity of the actual perpetrators of violence against white women Used that as a method to maintain their impunity in Ida B. Wells Biography she talks about white men raping white women wearing blackface and I went very much for both women's rights and Black civil rights to understand their connection. Yeah, no, I think it's an important point I mean I do think that The status of women white women in particular is a central feature of the larger narrative, right because There were lots of lynchings that took place in the south involving black men Who were accused of intimacy with white women? Which meant that if you had a note that a white woman had gave you if you stood too close to a white woman if you Laughed at a person's job We have cases where people were lynched because they went to the front door of a home when only a white woman was present So there was this perverted idea of protecting the identity and the status of white women at the same time using it As a pretense for this violence But it is a complex history because many of the people who were lynched were never accused of violent crimes They were accused of doing things that just threatened that order and the reason why we focus on that narrative and we call it Terrorism is because it wasn't about crime. It wasn't about punishment. It was about sustaining Racial hierarchy it was about sustaining white supremacy and there were violent acts committed against people who were white and smart white People who wanted to commit a violent act would use blackness as a way to cover that and and that's a that's a it's a Serious problem. It's a different problem than the problem of using lynching to sustain Racial hierarchy and we do talk about lynchings all over the country But in most parts of the country where you had that kind of violence that were not the deep south It was sort of frontier justice and there's a difference between frontier justice where people are engaging in mob violence because there is no functioning criminal justice System and what we call terror lynchings the lynchings that we document Occupied took place in places where there was a functioning criminal justice system. There were jails. There were judges There were lawyers there were all of that But that wasn't good enough for these accused people black people were being denied even the dignity of a trial of being a Defendant and you're right. There is a connection to this. Mr. Hinton spent 30 years on death row for a crime He didn't commit the state's not looking for the people who committed the crime Somebody got away with murder the murders did take place But because we are preoccupied with this narrative that has these racial features We don't only don't do justice for the people who are being victimized by it We don't do justice for anybody and in that narrative I think there is the opportunity to do more to say more and to get us closer to where we need to be Yeah, thank you Hello, my name is Joy Talking about voices and whose voice is being heard as a white woman. I don't want to take up too much time speaking That's not why I'm here But I am actually here to relay a message as part of why I'm here from a man on death row in Alabama Chanel Jackson and Holman. I don't know if you know him. We both know him well. Oh, you know him too I don't know that okay, so he Hes is a case that is a little less clear in terms of innocence one of those murky cases that you were talking about I my mom and On her journey of learning about whiteness and privilege and and prison abolition and everything She's a wonderful activist started pen paling with Chanel through one of those programs. She's Quaker. We're Quaker So I've known Chanel since I was 13 14. I'm 23 now has really shaped my understanding of race and the prison system and death row and Really has formed a big part of who I am today and he knows I'm here So I'm just saying hey from Chanel. It's a lot less hopeful for him. Unfortunately. He's on his last state appeal I don't know if it's gone to Supreme Court. No, he's now in federal court. Yeah. Yeah, he's now in federal court It's not looking too hopeful. He's been on the road for most of his life black poor Very similar situation. So I don't even know. I didn't know you knew him too, but well actually No, I appreciate that actually the case is a case worth with worth just mentioning Chanel Jackson is on death row in Alabama He got to death row despite the fact that at his trial the jury rendered a 12 o verdict for life But we have elected judges and our elected judges have the authority to override jury verdicts of life And that's how he got his Death sentence and there are dozens of people on death row who were condemned through a process like that that is very very politicized and so One thing I do want to just say to people this program where people are corresponding to we have a program if any of you are interested in engaging directly With people who are in jails in prisons many of whom are wrongly convicted I hope you'll go to our website the material the calendar has information there We love connecting Incarcerated people with people on the outside and maybe mr. Hinton can say a word about how important that can be We've got lots of people in jails and prisons who never hear From folks on the outside. Maybe you can say something about why you think that might be important, right? I think it's important that people from the outside give you That little sense of hope. I was blessed with a friend that stuck by me for 30 years When you in a fire by seven Let me say this up front I was born to a family of five sisters and four brothers in the 30 years that I was on death row I did not see my brothers of my sisters and so by having a friend I was able to continue to try to have that strength to try to have that hope and When you hear from someone that you don't know it gives you a sense that someone do care and We sit and we don't want to judge but people just need to know that someone Care about them and just a letter that every nine days and hello. How you doing? It goes great to that person One I'd like to say thank you mr. Hinton for sharing your story because it makes it real I'm from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. My name is Emma and I had the privilege of serving on a jury in 2014 and I was actually the four person and During jury selection One of the people who was actually chosen as a juror actually said well if he was arrested He must be guilty of something and that young man was an African-American and Luckily, you know, I have a lot of sales experience And that that conviction was not going to happen. So we actually I mean was real rough and tumble He was the only holdout. So my question is when you look at You know, you want the jury to be made up of the person's peers But you know, we live in a society where no We've all gone through some level of brainwashing and you kind of have to wash your brain to kind of come to some Place where you're thinking logically What can what can we do as a public what can you know, I Mean if I weren't on that jury probably it would have been home. I mean, I'm not to my own horn I'm just knowing you know what I saw in that room and It was basically the person's peer who was actually probably gonna You know have it be hung and have it go to another jury So what can we do to be more conscious to get more people who are conscious to? You know be on juries, you know, what's what's the kind of solution there? Yeah Well, I'll start I mean I think first of all it's important that people show up I mean the biggest problem that we have to be honest huge Disparities and the and the percentage of people of color who are called to jury service and the people who show up There are a lot of reasons for that that we've got to address so we need to change the system so that Young mothers can have daycare and support that people who are employed won't lose their jobs if they're called for jury service The juries have been taken over by largely older retired white people in a lot of jurisdictions Because they have both a desire and the capacity to serve in that role So it's important to show and then when you show up It's important to imagine that the person is on trial is somebody who is in your family that you care about because we see a Lot of people desperately trying to get off of jury service trying to get out of jury service And that then leaves people vulnerable to the kind of misjudgements and convictions that we see too often So it's basically about taking this responsibility seriously in the deep South we tell people of color People fought and died for your right to serve on a jury. How dare you not? Show up. How dare you not accept that obligation that responsibility because it's inconvenient because it's a little challenging I think that's the big part of it and then the second part of it is to is to demand, you know Just take take it seriously. I think black and brown people in this country are presumed dangerous and guilty There's a presumption of guilt that they walk it like that young man said there's a presumption of guilt And your charge is presumption of innocence and when you're in that role It's important that you keep underlining that idea if the state cannot prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt We are supposed to quit and it doesn't matter whether we think he did it or not We've got to make our judgment rooted in that presumption and I think that's absolutely key Hi, thank you both so much for being here and this has been an amazing Lecture, but I just wanted to ask you're talking about changing the narrative of this country around it and I think something that I'm very interested in is I have a lot of Good-hearted co-workers and friends and family who really honestly want to do good in the world But they if I started talking about police brutality their their reality won't allow them to see that What actually happens in a lot of black and brown community? So I think my question is how do you start that conversation to with people who like this room is fantastic? But everyone here obviously had some sort of inclination to come like how do we start this conversation? With people who don't have the inclination to come to these events who honestly are probably very good people but don't have The background in the and the vision to see the reality of what this country was founded on. Yeah Well, you know to me I've always said that people are so conscious of race You start that conversation by being honest you start it and You might offend someone But you know truth to offend people But you have to stick to your gun. You have to stick to what you believe in as far as How you get people to? Just invite them to a conversation We need to talk more about Degestive system in this country. We need to talk more about racism in this country A young lady asked me about three weeks ago after I had told my story She asked me did I believe this do I believe that? Racism had is better now. I was it better than it was when I went to prison. I Think racism is worse now Then it was 20 30 years ago, and I think it's worse because It's more undercover I Often tell people if you're gonna ask me something, I'm gonna tell you the truth And I have to give if you're gonna give credit I have to give the Klan's credit in the south They took off the white road and put on the black road We as a country we must learn to start Vote not on racist line, but do your homework. I went through 15 White judges Not a black judge Nowhere, and I begin to look at the truth We are allowing The Klan's men to do more now than they ever have before We don't get out and I'm gonna have to say it black people don't get out the boat We don't we frayed when as Mr. Stevens said Jury duty in Alabama The prosecution more likely will strike every black person that's on his Rost but guess what they do they go home, and they lay down well I got scrub you should protest and I would love to challenge young people This country was not given to you People died people lost their lives so you can enjoy whatever you enjoy now You need to get up and fight for something because I'm afraid what happened to me Can happen to someone else and the only way we won't Stop it from happening is that we got to start Margin and I'm not talking margin and looting I'm talking about margin and demand That the right people start doing what you're selling To Congress what you're sending senators to do we got to start Getting up and making a voice when we're making people understand we ain't gonna take this Intolerate it in alone Thank you for being here to speak And thank you for talking about the specific action steps that we can take next I'm thinking about going back to law school But is there anything else that we can do do you need volunteers for Eji? What needs to happen? For everyday citizens, how can we do your work? Yeah, well, I really appreciate that question Yes, I mean I think we we do have a program where we're looking for people who are willing to correspond with incarcerated people You know the calendars that we're handing out I hope that people do take them and put them up in their workplaces I mean one response to that question is it if you we've had people Facilitate conversations just with these images right the images are challenging But they will actually prompt the kind of discourse that sometimes allows you to get underneath the things That people are used to talking about, you know videos like the video that we showed to you are available We want you to take it. We want you to share it with people We've got some other materials on our website that we hope you'll pick up and use to facilitate We are calling people to join us on the soil collections that we're doing where we're going to lynching sites We're calling people to join us and the construction of the memorial and the construction of the museum Reentry is a word that didn't exist 20 years ago But it's going to be a word that defines the next generation because every day They're going to be hopefully the thousands of people coming out of jails in prisons and like mr. Hinton if we're not there to support him If somebody's not there to help them recover We're making it very easy for them to fail We're making it very hard for them to succeed It's hard to succeed even when you have people who are trying to help you but it's possible to succeed without that so everyone has skills ability and Capacity to help people recover from incarceration. It doesn't matter whether they were there wrongly or not for crime They committed or didn't innocent or not. They still need that help with recovering There's some wonderful organizations here in the city in Brooklyn that are looking for volunteers to do reentry work and support I urge people to take that up because it's probably no more pressing need and helping people recover From years and decades of imprisonment Without support and service that'd be my call to action Thank you. You're welcome Yes, mr. Hinton firstly, I have four questions very short questions. The first is What have you done? What are your plans for employment and professional your own professional development second question? What three specific? Reforms would you recommend in prison to change the prison environment? The third question mr. Stevenson what specific Activities can we as a society and I'm talking about the financial Community businesses What can they do in? the reentry To solve the reentry problem and the fourth and probably most important question for you mr. Hinton is What will the Mets do? This season and will they be better than the anchors? What will the hood do? Mets the New York. That's the Mets You can answer that question first. Let me ask you all about the Mets You're met friend. I am I was originally a Brooklyn Dodger fan, and I converted to the Mets. Yes What I feel bad for No team will ever steal my heart Like the beloved Yankees. Y'all went last year and you embarrassed New York I think that New York is one of the greatest plays that you can play baseball the Mets They need to fold up shop And some of your good players should come over to New York Yankee side And perhaps we can go back to winning championship like we used to do But if if New York waiting on the Mets to win a championship, they gonna be waiting a long time Do you want to What about the other three questions? So the First question was was what are mr. Hinton's plans for employment and professional development? Your own plans My my plan is to Go around the country and try to make some changes You know, I could have easily come out and live with my best friend for a year. I could either Got him to try to take care of me for another year But I believe that We as people when we see something wrong in it it have to start with us What would I feel like? What would I be like? To get off there from and do nothing All I can do is go around the country and tell people my story I hope that it would inspire people because I believe what happened to me as I was telling Mr. Stevens and coming over here if you think That there haven't been some innocent people that executed in this country you sadly mistake I Believe that we don't need a death penalty in this country long as long as you have prosecutors that are political driven long as you have People that are racist long as you have judges that is care more about getting reelected Then doing what is right under the law then we need to strike down All that law and just like you don't have a death penalty here in New York I'm trying my best to go around the country and get the law Abolished not just in the south but everywhere. We just don't need it because long as We as human we make mistake I wish I could tell the audience that they'd made a mistake on me But they didn't regardless I spent 30 years of my life or something I didn't do I don't want to see that happen to no one else and I'm going to get up every morning And I'm gonna make sure someone to hear me and hopefully if I keep talking maybe the right person I'll hear me and help me try to change it Okay, and what changes would you make in the prison inside? What what should they do that they're not doing now? We're actually out of time I'm getting a lot of signals here, so I'm sorry, but Okay, well we won't we get since we had one wait. Yes, why don't we do those really really quickly because because we are past time Firstly, Mr. Hinn go Yankees And I want to just thank you for your tears because you're modeling healing so I want to thank you for that I I Feel very blessed that I work as an advocate and get to talk about trauma race injustice every day but on the side I work with young children and and teenagers and talk about race and bias and I've been doing that for over 10 years and I was really worried After Obama was elected and there was a narrative of a post-racial America and I would hold these workshops with children and There was a lack of a grabbing hold of this conversation that has radically changed in the last few years They can't get enough They are so hungry for this narrative shifting and what disturbs and what's what's scary is that? Teachers are kids So now I have teachers who stand in the back of the class listening Because they're concerned and they wanted their their nervous that Opening up this conversation about slavery really creates them I wanted to ask you how you're engaging with young people And what do we do about those especially teachers administrators who are reluctant and and fearful of the thing that you're really raising that we Need yeah, yeah Well, we are very much mindful of the need to kind of engage kids of all ages Some of the tools that we're using are really designed for young kids. Mr. Hinton has been giving talks At EJI and sometimes we're with adult groups and sometimes we're middle-aged student groups and the young kids I think respond as intensely and as with much, you know reactivity as the older groups and I think that that we have to teach young people this history to make them Sensitive and aware of the challenges that we face but a lot of the tools that we're developing We hope it will be employed With very young kids and for very young people are my young clients I'm certainly trying to get them to appreciate if they understand this history There's a story of survival that will empower them to deal with some of the challenges that we're dealing with today Thank you Yeah my I'm so go ahead. Yeah, sure. Yeah, super quick. Just my name is Jeffrey dust give it up I'm an exonere also. I spent 16 years in prison prior to being proved proven innocent through DNA 10 years ago I'm also an advocate So in the last my question is this in the last year and a half the mood of the country has changed in terms of criminal justice reform I've and although mass incarceration Unjustifiable deadly police force police brutality have taken center stage in that conversation and to a lesser extent Prison reform and inmate education My question is how do we break through to add wrongful conviction to that? I mean, I've gone back and forth to DC. I've met with White House staff elected officials I've continued to do a lot of public speaking and and media interviews and I can't seem to get that issue Framed in the same conversation as that so my question is from your vantage point in the work that you're doing How do we add wrongful conviction so that it's meant mentioned in that same conversation as those other worthy topics are yeah Well, I mean, I think we're I think we're close I think what you are doing and what mr. Hinton is doing is the essential answer I think when people hear you and they know of your experiences They're no longer to have these no longer willing to have these conversations without that being added to the list I mean, I do think we have this population of innocent people wrongly convicted and unfortunately We've all just accepted that there are innocent people in jails and prisons We accept that innocent people have been sentenced to death, you know, we've now had nine You know a hundred and fifty was 150 second person exonerated after being on death row We're now up to 156 which means that for every nine people we've executed We've identified one innocent person on death row who's been exonerated that ought to be an error rate that causes everybody to say Let's stop the death penalty We can't have a death penalty if we have an error rate that high for every nine planes it took off one crash Everybody would stop flying right and we haven't created that consciousness So I think what we have to do is what you're doing is to give voice in a very personal way to the trauma The ugliness the pain that these kinds of convictions take place and then the second thing is we've got to create an infrastructure Where people are held accountable when they are responsible for wrongful convictions. You can't sue prosecutors If there was liability when a prosecutor convicted someone who was innocent if there was liability when the police Contributed to that conviction if there were if people were held criminally liable if they were held civilly liable We could change this in a very quick quick amount of time But right now you can put somebody on prison forever and never have to do anything about that that Accountability piece that impute that getting past that impunity. I think it's going to really be key to how we turn this around Thank you. Thank you very much But nobody will leave here today the same as when they walked in and That is a good thing. Thank you for joining us. Please join me on Sunday This March 20th my friends and sister Sophia Elijah whose executive director of the Correctional Association Will be leading a panel the role of culture and social change Kathleen Cleaver Secretary of the black former secretary of the for the Black Panther Party will be on the on the panel and Monica Dennis of The New York Black Lives Matter and other people as well and do join us for the Sackler Center first awards on June 2nd We will be honoring Angela Davis feminist scholar Activists for social justice. Thank you very much. Have a good afternoon