Darryl Hunt Interview @ Community Mosque of Winston-Salem, NC — Transcript

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1. 0:09[Music]
2. 0:16[Music]
3. 0:28uh by getting engaged
4. 0:30and uh being active in um all the
5. 0:35organizations that's already uh out
6. 0:38there um especially when you talk about
7. 0:41places like NAACP I know they are open
8. 0:44and
9. 0:46um fighting the issues of
10. 0:51immigration
11. 0:53um the uh social justice issues of uh
12. 0:58the criminal justice system of how how
13. 1:00the system um discriminates against all
14. 1:04minorities um and fighting on that front
15. 1:08and getting
16. 1:15involved I was arrested uh in 1984 for
17. 1:19rape and murder of a white newspaper
18. 1:22copy editor uh here in Western Salem
19. 1:24North Carolina um I was arrested at age
20. 1:2819 and and I served 19 and 1/2 years in
21. 1:32prison um I had two trials um first
22. 1:37trial was um a jury of 11 whites and one
23. 1:42black and the second trial was um a
24. 1:45white
25. 1:46jury and I was convicted and uh
26. 1:51sentenced to life in prison uh being one
27. 1:54vote away from the death penalty
28. 1:58um I spent um 19 years in prison going
29. 2:03from 13 different prisons in North
30. 2:07Carolina
31. 2:09um in
32. 2:11[Music]
33. 2:131990 uh before my second trial um my
34. 2:17torist asked was there any
35. 2:19DNA involved uh was there able to
36. 2:24collect the DNA and they like they said
37. 2:26that U the DNA was uh too degraded to be
38. 2:31tested which was a lie uh because right
39. 2:34in their files was a report from the FBI
40. 2:38that they could do DNA testing which was
41. 2:41called PCR testing which was a high
42. 2:44grade of testing and uh it was 3 years
43. 2:48later doing a m hearing a motion for
44. 2:50appropriate relief hearing that um by
45. 2:54the grace of Allah my turnis asked um
46. 2:58for one state statement of another
47. 3:00witness and because the prosecutor
48. 3:04didn't want to turn it over the
49. 3:06statement from the FBI about the DNA was
50. 3:10stuck to this statement that the judge
51. 3:12made him turn over and that's how we was
52. 3:15able to find out about the DNA and it
53. 3:18was the testing was done in 93 came back
54. 3:22in
55. 3:2394 and in um August of 94 it proved that
56. 3:28it wasn't me that Comm the crime um but
57. 3:32the judge ruled that DNA didn't
58. 3:36matter and and um my case was appealed
59. 3:40all the way to the US Supreme Court and
60. 3:43the US Supreme Court upheld it anding uh
61. 3:46coming up with different scenarios why
62. 3:49uh DNA didn't matter uh going so far to
63. 3:52say that the person that I could have
64. 3:56killed the person and someone could have
65. 3:58came along after she was dead did and
66. 4:00raped her uh to justifi the DNA and it
67. 4:03was only
68. 4:05um Christmas
69. 4:07Eve uh
70. 4:102003 um that I was released on bail
71. 4:14after they found the person who actually
72. 4:17committed the crime and in February of
73. 4:21uh 2004 I was
74. 4:28exonerated
75. 4:31Muslims play a a Biblical role in it
76. 4:35because one when I first went in the
77. 4:38prison I was I mean when I was first
78. 4:41arrested I wasn't Muslim uh I started
79. 4:45learning about Islam and I became Muslim
80. 4:49but um it was
81. 4:52through um my father-in-law who was not
82. 4:56my father-in-law he was he wasn't my
83. 4:57father-in-law then but um that first
84. 5:01introduced me to Islam
85. 5:05and helped me understand um the basics
86. 5:10of Islam and that gave me the strength
87. 5:13and
88. 5:14determination to to rely on
89. 5:17Allah to endure the 19
90. 5:25years to to speak out against Injustice
91. 5:29is to the Muslim Community needs a voice
92. 5:35for those who don't have voices and in
93. 5:38the climate that we in today where Islam
94. 5:40is being attacked from all sides um the
95. 5:44justice
96. 5:45system uh that has never been fair to
97. 5:49minorities period and
98. 5:52um who continues to have all these flaws
99. 5:56and the Muslims need to be involved and
100. 5:59need of organization that can speak for
101. 6:01the Muslims uh
102. 6:04to to go along um give you a example one
103. 6:09of the things in North Carolina that we
104. 6:12fought against was the moratorium on the
105. 6:14death penal because we believe that you
106. 6:18cannot give the defitely the people when
107. 6:22they don't receive a fair and just
108. 6:25trial and during this whole time um uh
109. 6:30not only could I count the
110. 6:31African-Americans that was involved at
111. 6:34the general assembly uh pushing this but
112. 6:37the number of Muslims that for one
113. 6:40reason or another didn't feel that they
114. 6:42had a voice to be there and
115. 6:46so if we have a collective body a voice
116. 6:50that could speak out of those who can't
117. 6:52speak because there's injustices being
118. 6:54perpetrated against Muslims for uh
119. 6:57driving down the street with a kfy on
120. 7:00um and being pulled over and questioned
121. 7:04and with without an organization that
122. 7:07can speak for them and can speak
123. 7:09to uh the authorities about the
124. 7:12Injustice then we can continue to be
125. 7:22victims uh if it was not for one
126. 7:25person um I wouldn't be sitting here
127. 7:28today because um Allah blessed this one
128. 7:33juror to not to give me the death
129. 7:37penalty and if You' have given me the
130. 7:39death pen I would be I wouldn't be here
131. 7:41today so um one person do make a
132. 7:47difference uh Allah gives you power to
133. 7:49do all
134. 7:58things
135. 8:00if it wasn't for Larry contining to keep
136. 8:02it before the
137. 8:04community um laris's
138. 8:08voice uh who we played basketball that's
139. 8:13that's the only thing I knew about him
140. 8:14we played pickup basketball in the YMCA
141. 8:17and it was because of that pickup
142. 8:19basketball that
143. 8:21he knew what kind of character of person
144. 8:24I was
145. 8:26and came and and pulled in the community
146. 8:31and people
147. 8:32to um know that I did not commit that
148. 8:36the person that he knew that played
149. 8:39basketball with did not commit this
150. 8:40crime and it was because of that one
151. 8:43voice that he
152. 8:45carried
153. 8:46um that I'm here because you know I I
154. 8:51don't think
155. 8:53um
156. 8:55Allah blesses just one person He blesses
157. 8:58one person and He blesses others and he
158. 9:02gives others the chance to
159. 9:14fight want for your brother what you
160. 9:16want for yourself
161. 9:19um and in a system that continues
162. 9:25to Heap Injustice you know Justice
163. 9:29um our criminal justice system is
164. 9:34supposed to be about Blind Justice but
165. 9:37when it's based upon how much money you
166. 9:39have or what class you come out of then
167. 9:42that's not Justice and all Muslims need
168. 9:44to stand up and fight for
169. 9:53that