“Despair was a choice. Hatred was a choice. Anger was a choice. I still had choices, and that knowledge rocked me. I may not have had as many Lester had, but I still had some choices. I could choose to give up or to hang on. Hope was a choice. Faith was a choice. And more than anything else, love was a choice. Compassion was a choice.”–Anthony Ray Hinton, The Sun Does Shine
This book rocked me. The blatant racism, disregard for the truth, and corruption of the legal system were shocking. Anthony Ray Hinton was twenty-nine years old when we was arrested, charged, and convicted of a double murder. He had an airtight alibi and did not commit the murders. Unfortunately, neither of those things mattered for a poor black man who couldn’t afford good legal counsel in Alabama. He was sentenced to die by electrocution and placed on Alabama’s death row. The first three years he was in prison, Anthony was angry–justifiably so. He realized that did not help his situation and for the next twenty-seven years was a model inmate who brought light and hope to his fellow prisoners as they too awaited their death sentences.
His case was brought to the attention of civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy, who took on Hinton’s case and in 2015 Hinton won his case and was released. Hinton spent thirty years on death row for a crime he did not commit and his story is amazing. His story reminds us that while we often cannot control the circumstances we find ourselves in, we can control our response. Hinton’s courage, perseverance, and hope are inspiring and his book is well worth your time.
Content Advisory: Racism, language, violence