Former death row inmate Anthony Ray Hinton on lessons kids can learn from his life — Transcript

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1. 0:00you may remember the incredible story of
2. 0:02anthony ray hinton a man who spent
3. 0:04nearly 30 years on death row in alabama
4. 0:06for crimes he did not commit he was
5. 0:08released in 2015 when all charges
6. 0:10related to two murders were dropped
7. 0:12hinton turned his life story into a
8. 0:14best-selling book now he's out with a
9. 0:16young reader's version of the sun does
10. 0:18shine aimed at 10 to 14 year olds he
11. 0:21hopes his life will provide important
12. 0:22lessons of hope to young people ray
13. 0:24hinton joins us right now good morning
14. 0:26ray how are you doing
15. 0:28i'm doing fine to you good good now you
16. 0:30were last here in 2018 when oprah picked
17. 0:33your book for her book club what have
18. 0:35you been up to since
19. 0:37i've been blessed to travel around to
20. 0:40various state colleges and share my
21. 0:43story of injustice as well as trying to
22. 0:46find a way to uh make the justice system
23. 0:49more equal for everyone
24. 0:52we appreciate you sharing your story
25. 0:53with us right now but we want to share
26. 0:54something with you actually a video
27. 0:57check it out
28. 0:58mr hinton or should i say
29. 1:01dr
30. 1:02anthony ray hinton dr ray so proud of
31. 1:05you and all of the great work you're
32. 1:07doing and so happy to see
33. 1:10the sun does shine shining now for young
34. 1:13adults
35. 1:15congratulations
36. 1:17thank you it does shine it shines bright
37. 1:19just like that smile i saw a smile come
38. 1:21over your face dr hinton thanks to an
39. 1:23honorary degree what did you think of
40. 1:25that video how did it make you feel
41. 1:27it makes me feel wonderful you know uh
42. 1:29oprah and i
43. 1:31are connected uh
44. 1:33on honesty and love for one another and
45. 1:36respect for one another and i think she
46. 1:38is one of the most fantastically in the
47. 1:40world
48. 1:42she didn't have to do what she did for
49. 1:43me
50. 1:44since the choosing my book i'm
51. 1:47proud that she did and i will forever be
52. 1:49thankful to her
53. 1:51well i know
54. 1:53mr hinton dr hinton it's really good to
55. 1:55see you uh i know oprah has
56. 1:58oprah has deep affection for you she's
57. 2:00shooting in um georgia and so she took
58. 2:03time off the set to send you a message
59. 2:05but i remember when oprah invited you
60. 2:07and your friend lester to her house in
61. 2:09hawaii and you had been there maybe a
62. 2:10week and she said do you guys want to
63. 2:12stay longer you said no i got to get on
64. 2:14back and mow the grass
65. 2:15[Laughter]
66. 2:17which we thought was so funny because
67. 2:18most people think you know i'll hang out
68. 2:20in hawaii but he said no i gotta get on
69. 2:22back and the grass is growing i got to
70. 2:24get on back but i'm wondering you've
71. 2:26been out for a few years now
72. 2:28is it still hard for you is there are
73. 2:30there things you still struggle with or
74. 2:32things that still surprise you even now
75. 2:34that you're out
76. 2:36uh yes you know uh gail to be honest
77. 2:39with you uh when you spend that amount
78. 2:42of time
79. 2:43uh in a five by seven
80. 2:46or crime that you didn't commit or every
81. 2:48time the state of alabama or any other
82. 2:50state
83. 2:51or execute someone
84. 2:53or it comes back into play
85. 2:55uh what i witnessed 54 million one woman
86. 2:59being executed uh i have to deal with
87. 3:02when i do cut the grass
88. 3:04or i stop for whatever reason in that
89. 3:07same spot and i remember as though it
90. 3:10was yesterday
91. 3:11that a day that the police came and
92. 3:14arrested me
93. 3:15while you were cutting the grass wow
94. 3:18absolutely and
95. 3:21it's funny i've been home seven years
96. 3:24or
97. 3:26i lock my does i try to be home at a
98. 3:28certain time i'm caught up in this uh
99. 3:32scenario that if it happened once they
100. 3:34can make it happen again
101. 3:36uh
102. 3:37but i tried my best to be as
103. 3:40careful and make sure that i'm around
104. 3:42somebody that at least could give me an
105. 3:44alibi so wow what i'm really saying is
106. 3:46that he never is free um
107. 3:50i have to live with this uh
108. 3:53by myself and as i told you uh when i
109. 3:55first met you the state of alabama have
110. 3:58not even offered me uh the opportunity
111. 4:01to see a psychiatrist or psychology or
112. 4:04to talk
113. 4:05to talk and so
114. 4:07uh i have to deal with it the best way
115. 4:09that i can and
116. 4:11uh i try to smile every day i try to
117. 4:13build life for those that are in
118. 4:15darkness and i try to not think about it
119. 4:17but i'm going to be honest with you
120. 4:19every day every day i go home i live in
121. 4:21the same house that i was kidnapped in
122. 4:24and i have to uh
123. 4:26that price and so on
124. 4:28i can't complain and i will not complain
125. 4:31but i'm just stating the facts uh i
126. 4:33think somebody you know you you know mr
127. 4:36hinton it's just heartbreaking to still
128. 4:38hear how deeply affected you are by this
129. 4:41and really how could you not be deeply
130. 4:43affected but i'm always fascinated
131. 4:45despite all of this you say you have no
132. 4:47bitterness and that you always had hope
133. 4:49how in the world did you have no
134. 4:51bitterness when from the day you were
135. 4:53arrested mowing the grass the cops said
136. 4:55you're going down because you're black
137. 4:56the jury's white the prosecutor is white
138. 4:58no matter what you're going down how do
139. 5:00you not have bitterness and you said
140. 5:02alabama still has offered you nothing
141. 5:05absolutely well you know i have uh
142. 5:08from a child i realized that
143. 5:10i cannot afford
144. 5:12uh to allow the state of alabama to take
145. 5:15uh what joy i have um
146. 5:19i believe that i have to move on
147. 5:21i believe that
148. 5:23i surround myself with good people uh
149. 5:27i have to forgive them
150. 5:28it's forgiveness not about other person
151. 5:31as i say forgiveness is about you and
152. 5:35they took 30 years for me there's
153. 5:37nothing i can do about that but i am
154. 5:39determined not to give them any any of
155. 5:42the joy that i have and i want to live
156. 5:44the rest of my life whenever uh until
157. 5:47that day god called me i want to be a
158. 5:48light for people i want to be uh
159. 5:51inspiration for young
160. 5:53people that uh i see every day and talk
161. 5:55to every day that don't have no hope i
162. 5:58don't yeah and what is your message to
163. 5:59these young people exactly yeah what is
164. 6:01it were you gonna ask him tony yeah
165. 6:03exactly i was gonna say
166. 6:04mr hinton on to gayle's point what is
167. 6:06your message what is the one takeaway
168. 6:07you hope young people get from this book
169. 6:10i hope young people get the fact that
170. 6:13they have a choice to make or you can
171. 6:16drown in your sorry you can drown in
172. 6:18bitterness i have the opportunity to go
173. 6:20around the country
174. 6:22and i have to tell you you see young
175. 6:24people at the age of 10 11 12
176. 6:27that have no
177. 6:28hope in their life
178. 6:30it's heartbreaking and i think we and
179. 6:33the politicians more than anybody have
180. 6:35done a bad job in trying to make
181. 6:39the next generation feel uh where they
182. 6:42have hope to be anything they want to be
183. 6:44and i want them to know that
184. 6:46i don't think you can get any lower than
185. 6:48what i was on death row for a crime that
186. 6:51you didn't commit sitting in a solitary
187. 6:54confinement for 30 years
188. 6:56if i can have hold on to hope and come
189. 6:58out and try to be the person that i know
190. 7:01that i am inside i want them to know
191. 7:03that they can do the same thing and uh
192. 7:06you are you are the definition of not
193. 7:09allowing someone to dim your light
194. 7:10because the sun does shine we appreciate
195. 7:13you the young readers edition of the
196. 7:14sunday shine is on sale now