Eye of the Hurricane:
My Path from Darkness to Freedom
by Dr. Rubin “Hurricane” Carter
with Ken Klonsky
Foreword by Nelson Mandela
Lawrence Hill Books
Hardcover, $26.95
350 pages,
ISBN: 978-1-56976-568-5
Book Review by Kam Williams
“You may have heard of me, Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter, as
having been a professional prizefighter. That, along with having
been a wrongly convicted person who had to spend twenty years behind
bars for a crime he did not commit, is a fact... I am not angry or
bitter about my past or present circumstances. I do not worry about
money or about not being able to pay my bills… I KNOW that I will be
all right because I am connected to the source from which all life
arises…Whatever is taken from you by those who abandon principle,
you will ultimately win back through your priceless understanding
that life has meaning. You will understand that nothing is more
valuable than the love of the Spirit, and that each individual
possesses that Spirit.”
Excerpted from the Introduction (pgs. 1, 22 & 23)
Rubin “Hurricane” Carter was rising up the ranks of the
middleweight division in 1966 when he was arrested for a triple
murder he didn’t commit. His once-promising boxing career ended
abruptly upon his conviction, and he proceeded to serve the next 19
years in prison, 10 in solitary confinement.
He was finally able to clear his name after becoming the subject of
hit song by Bob Dylan which in turn helped turn his case into
something of a cause célčbre. Denzel Washington subsequently
earned an Oscar nomination for his dignified portrayal of Carter in
“The Hurricane,” a bio-pic chronicling Rubin’s legal ordeal from
being framed through his ultimate vindication.
But it’s been over a quarter-century since Hurricane was exonerated
in 1985, and people might like to know that he has devoted most of
his life since to overturning the convictions of similar victims of
the criminal justice system. He is currently the CEO of Innocence
International, although he has also worked with The Innocence
Project and served as Executive Director of the Association in
Defense of the Wrongly Convicted.
However, his new autobiography, “Eye of the Hurricane: My Path
from Darkness to Freedom,” might strike some as a bit of a
departure for a man so closely associated with prisoners’ rights.
For here, the 73 year-old Carter focuses his attention on the notion
of breaking the mental as opposed to the physical bonds which might
limit anyone.
It’s not that he’s backing off one iota from his indictment of the
nation’s economic and racial biases which have led to the
incarceration of over two million of the nation’s ignorant and poor.
Rather, he simply shares the compassionate insight cultivated during
his own experience while in the state pen that one can actually
achieve a priceless form of freedom via spiritual enlightenment even
while still locked up.
Introspection and meditation as the 21st Century equivalents of
sneaking the proverbial file in a cake to a buddy behind bars.
To order a copy of Eye of the Hurricane, visit:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1569765685/ref=nosim/thslfofire-20
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Lloyd
Kam Williams 