The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton
(Format used for this read: Audiobook)
I first learned about Anthony Ray Hinton’s story when reading the book “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative. (If you haven’t read that book you absolutely MUST. It will break your heart in ways it needs to be broken to see the reality that is our screwed up and unjust American justice system )
Here is a summary of his book:
“In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama. Stunned, confused, and only twenty-nine years old, Hinton knew that it was a case of mistaken identity and believed that the truth would prove his innocence and ultimately set him free.
But with no money and a different system of justice for a poor black man in the South, Hinton was sentenced to death by electrocution. He spent his first three years on Death Row at Holman State Prison in agonizing silence―full of despair and anger toward all those who had sent an innocent man to his death. But as Hinton realized and accepted his fate, he resolved not only to survive, but find a way to live on Death Row. For the next twenty-seven years he was a beacon―transforming not only his own spirit, but those of his fellow inmates, fifty-four of whom were executed mere feet from his cell. With the help of civil rights attorney and bestselling author of Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson, Hinton won his release in 2015.
With a foreword by Stevenson, The Sun Does Shine is an extraordinary testament to the power of hope sustained through the darkest times. Destined to be a classic memoir of wrongful imprisonment and freedom won, Hinton’s memoir tells his dramatic thirty-year journey and shows how you can take away a man’s freedom, but you can’t take away his imagination, humor, or joy”
30 years this innocent man sat on death row…
30 years.
Stolen and wasted.
Scars of trauma, physical and emotional, that can never be erased.
Because of racial bias.
Because of socioeconomic stereotypes.
Because of a system that is corrupt and broken and careless with human life.
Our criminal justice did not just fail HIM but it has failed MANY more innocent human beings …and still does each and every day.
Statistics show that 1 in 10 people on death row are innocent.
1 in 10 human beings made in the image of God doing time and losing their LIVES.
How can we let this continue to happen????
Hearing this story along with reading about multiple other similar stories in “Just Mercy” as well as watching the documentary “13th” made my eyes spring wide open to how desperately we need to change the workings of our justice system….
so many lives stolen and souls crushed because of it…things have GOT to change.
Listen to this brave mans story…let it break your heart wide open…
let it remind you of the humanity of each and every single person on this planet…
let it remind you that you can not ever know someone’s real life story until you take some time to put your judgements and preconceived notions aside and truly listen…
let it educate you on a reality that many never even know exists…
let his words seep into your heart and mind and may you remember them…and may his words make you remember all the other children of God being subjected to the same exact unfair and inhumane treatment and let it spark in you initiative to ACT.
Check out the Equal Justice Initiative website to learn more about this topic…you can also see how you can donate and find various ways to get involved in the amazing work they are tirelessly doing to make some real changes: