July 29. Anthony Ray Hinton. Ray was arrested, convicted, imprisoned, and sentenced to death for a crime he didn’t commit. Here’s his story.
When life is unjust, turn your pain into purpose.
Ray had a message, and he taught that message to his neighbor Henry, though they only had one thing in common. They were both convicts on death row.
Ray had been a Black miner in Alabama, and Henry was the son of a Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. But on death row, differences disappeared. Or more accurately, Ray disappeared them.
In prison Ray didn’t talk much, but he listened, especially to Henry who had been taught to hate. He had been a Klansman and was sentenced to death for beating a Black man to death and then hanging him.
Some people couldn’t understand how Ray and Henry could be friends, including Ray’s niece.
“Henry was born Henry Francis Hayes, not ‘KKK Henry Francis Hayes.’ I explained to her … [that] as he got older, [Henry] went to Klan meetings, teaching him more hate.… but once Henry came to death row, the very people that he was taught to hate taught him love and compassion. Henry changed, and I saw the change.”
Ray changed, too.
Convicted on circumstantial evidence, Ray had grown angry, but he refused to condemn other people. Instead, he treated Henry and everyone on death row the same because the same Jesus loved each of them.
Love gave Ray a reason to live. He loved the men who sent him to prison—the officers, the prosecutor, the jury, and even the judge who overruled the life sentence handed down by the jury and instead sent Ray to death row. Ray prayed for the men there, including the guards. He prayed for Henry.
Ray remembered what he had learned from his mama: the only thing God can’t do is fail. He knew that God is love and that love never fails.
He didn’t just tell others that God loved them; he showed God’s love to them. He started a book club, and Henry joined in. Ray told jokes so others could laugh.
Ray didn’t think that what someone else did or didn’t do was any of his business. He knew what Henry had done, but that didn’t matter. He figured that Henry’s daddy cheated him. “My mom told me, no matter what one does in life, he or she deserves some compassion, and I knew [Henry] deserved compassion more than anybody.” Ray said hatred was a cancer.
In 1997, the State executed Henry Hays.
“On the night of his execution he finally admitted that all his life his father had lied to him, and that now he knows what love is,” said Ray.
When the Supreme Court of the United States finally and unanimously overturned Ray’s conviction, he told the waiting press: “I want you to know, there is a God … He [defended] me.… I will continue to pray … just as I have for 30 years.”
Now Ray crusades for compassion. He believes anyone can learn to love if they know they are loved.
“Now, who of us would dare to die for the sake of a wicked person? We can all understand if someone was willing to die for a truly noble person. But Christ proved God’s passionate love for us by dying in our place while we were still lost and ungodly!” (Romans 5:7–8 TPT).
What can you do when others mistreat you? When life is unjust, turn your pain into purpose.
Segura, Liliana. The Intercept. “Anthony Ray Hinton Spent Almost 30 Years on Death Row. Now He Has a Message for White America.” Published June 17, 2018. https://theintercept.com/2018/06/17/anthony-ray-hinton-death-row/.
McGreal, Chris. The Guardian. “I went to death row for 28 years through no fault of my own.” Published April 1, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/01/i-went-to-death-row-for-28-years-through-no-fault-of-my-own-.
Story read by: Chuck Stecker
Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter
Audio production: Joel Carpenter
Editor: Teresa Crumpton, https://authorspark.org/
Project manager: Blake Mattocks
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