Remembering Rubin [View all]

[H2O Man]

"Muhammad Ali means 'One who has walked and talked with Kings, and yet has not
lost the common touch.' ....Muhammad Ali means Constant Struggle. But that's what
America's all about -- is it not?"
-- Rubin "Hurricane" Carter

Shortly before Muhammad Ali was to regain his heavyweight title from Big George
Foreman, the editor of World Boxing magazine asked Rubin to pen an article on what
Ali meant to black Americans. The above quote, from the article, was part of Carter's
expanding on that topic, by addressing what The Champ should mean to everyone
in America. As I was re-reading the article yesterday, I thought it was an equally good
description of Rubin Carter.

In the years after the federal court system vacated his conviction for triple murder,
Carter would walk and talk with some of the most powerful people on earth. These
included Nelson Mandela, and President and Mrs. Clinton. His work in support of
people he believed had been wrongly convicted -- meaning "innocent," rather than
merely "not guilty" -- took him around the globe.

In those years,I only heard him speak ill of one politician: then-governor George W.
Bush. Rubin described the future president as "giddy with delight" when he spoke about
his power to allow people to be executed. Indeed, he told me that the "W" in Bush's
name stood for "Death," the most appropriate middle name for the man.

I've been looking through old letters and scrapbooks, court documents and books, and
a number of boxing magazines, since getting word that Rubin had died on Sunday
morning. We had been friends for over 40 years. Some of my favorites are from
when Ali was becoming active in his support of Rubin and co-defendent John Artis.
This was before their cause became popular.

Rubin had fought twice in Africa, where Muhammad would fight Foreman. During Ali's
visits to Rahway State Prison in New Jersey, he and Rubin would discuss the best
ways to prepare to box half way around the globe. Nights, Rubin would write to me
about his advice to Ali. And while most "experts" knew that Ali stood no chance against
George, Carter believed Ali would upset his powerful opponent.

In the mid-1970s, I thought that there had been a fairly wide-spread effort to falsely convict
Carter for the 1966 triple murder. Plenty of the officials involved in the investigation of
the brutal crime, and the prosecution of Carter and Artis, would get significant career
promotions following their convictions. This included prosecutors in other counties,
who dropped charges against the two career criminals who would testify against Rube.
Later, I came to recognize that it only takes two investigators, to plant some "evidence"
here, and hide real evidence there, to gain a knowingly false conviction. Most of the
other authorities simply believed those investigators, and dismissed anything and
everything Rubin, John, and black witnesses had to say.

I'm proud that I was able to play a role in gaining access to state and federal law
enforcement files on the case. During the 1967 trial, the police believed that a group
of radical black nationalists were planning a violent attack to "free" Rubin from the
courtroom, and to hide him on the underground. Stool pigeons will tell the police any
lie they think the police want to hear. In fact, there was not a shred of real evidence to
support that tall tale. Looking back today, its only value is that it illustrates the huge
amount of fear and anxiety that clouded some folks' minds.

While Rubin "Hurricane" Carter was a unique person, the wrongful convictions were
not uncommon. This is not because of massive, widespread conspiracies; again, it
only requires the misdeeds of one or two individuals to poison the legal process. While
living in Canada, Rubin would work with an organization -- which coordinated efforts
with a university's law program -- to seek justice for wrongly convicted inmates held
in prison cells around the world. Rubin was also opposed to capital punishment in
any case. He was fully aware that the prosecutor in 1967 sought to put him in the
electric chair.

From time to time, I would call Rubin to request that he consider a local case, or one
I had learned about in the media. Each time, he would say that if I thought it was
important enough to call on, he knew it was important enough for him to examine. In one
area case, one of his associates helped to get a teenager's life sentence overturned.
That fellow has not had a single legal problem in the 15 years since leaving prison.

In the past few days, I've heard from old friends from high school and college, where
I had introduced classes to Rubin's case. Even 40 years later, my high school
classmates remember how we communicated with Rubin through letters and
cassette tapes.A couple years back, I was invited to speak to a class at that same
high school about the case. When I told Rubin, he provided me with a personal
message to deliver to the students.

Rubin was an extraordinary man. Like all human beings, he was a combination of
qualities. He was well aware of his faults, and worked very hard -- and he had an
intense sense of self-discipline -- to overcome them. When he spoke at SUNY-
Binghamton in April of 2001, a professor from the school was impressed; she
contacted me afterwards. She was writing a book on forgiveness, and asked me
to see if Rubin would contribute a chapter. Rubin was happy to do so, and in one
short chapter, he documented the Power of Forgiveness.

At the end of the SUNY-B presentation, Rubin played with my little daughters. My
wife asked me if I had noticed Rubin flinch when he first saw them? And how old was
his daughter when Rubin was incarcerated? She was about their age. Twenty years
of incarceration takes a toll on a man. He suffered the effects every day. Yet he rose
above the physical and mental scars.

All four of my children met and knew Rubin Carter. Over the years, he would always
ask me about how each one was doing, and where they were in life? He was also
interested in how members of my extended family were. And he would also ask me
about various members of my high school class, who he said had "sent rays of sun-
shine into (his) darkand dreary cell."

On Sunday, each of my children posted on "Face Book" about the loss of a great
man. My younger son recalled how proud he was when Rubin singled his father out
when he spoke at Colgate University. I'm glad that I have had the opportunity to
introduce my kids to Rubin.

As older men, Rubin and I talked about flower gardening. That hobby had become a
passion for both of us. More, "tending his garden" was Rubin's description of living
his life. He noted that my children were my "most beautiful flowers." I liked that.

Rubin's favorite topic of discussion was the ultimate meaning of life. He would
seek the answer in manners that too few consider. I remember that he went to the
lands of the Lakota, in the Black Hills. There, he took part in the sacred Sun Dance
ceremony. A medicine man named Rubin "Badger Star," and presented him with
a headdress that belonged to the great Chief Red Cloud.

This coming weekend, a number of old friends will be traveling to my home, to
participate in a ceremony to celebrate Rubin's life. I'm honored to have known him
as a Good Friend and Brother for all of these years.