Former Boxing Rubin "Hurricane (Hurricane)" Carter, who spent almost twenty years in prison in the US for three murders he did not commit and whose story inspired a famous song by Bob Dylan, died today in Toronto (Canada) at 76 years of age. Carter died after a long fight against prostate cancer.
Rubin Carter became 1961 in a professional boxer of the average weight. A great future was predicted after more than a dozen victories, mostly ahead of time. But in 1966, he was arrested along with a friend and accused of the murder of three people in New Jersey, and sentenced to three life sentences by a jury composed exclusively of whites. Both Carter and his friend, John Artis, denied at all times their involvement in the murders, a lies detector passed without problems and the witnesses did not recognize them as the authors.
In 1974, his case reached Bob Dylan who, after meeting with Carter in prison, wrote in 1975 he wrote the song "Hurricane", which became one of the greatest successes of his career. In spite of everything, it was not until 1979 when the case was reopened. And finally, in 1985, a federal judge ruled that the Prosecutor's Office had acted in bad faith during the trial. After leaving jail, Carter moved to Toronto, where he has just died.
Who says we can have control over our own life? One day, Rubin Carter was arrested, tried and convicted of three crimes he had not committed, and had to spend the next 19 years of his life in jail. He lost freedom, youth, and the expectations of a great career. No, our life does not depend only on us.
What depends on us is the attitude with which we face it. Carter fought for his freedom every day in jail: he wrote two books and tried to get the attention of society about his case. And once released, he founded an association to support all the unjustly condemned people from Canada.
Life is, in some way, a fight. He has wonderful moments, but also hard moments. And when they are wrong, you have to know how to fight
Hurricane
