Oprah Winfrey and Anthony Ray Hinton reveal next book club pick — Transcript

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1. 0:00only on CBS this morning you saw open
2. 0:02the last half-hour she is still here the
3. 0:05main reason she's here is to reveal her
4. 0:06newest highly anticipated book club
5. 0:09selection
6. 0:09so drumroll what is it okay so my new
7. 0:14book club selection is the Sun does
8. 0:18shine how I found life and freedom on
9. 0:21death row by Anthony Rea Hinton and we
10. 0:24are so delighted and honored to have the
11. 0:27author join us here at the table CBS
12. 0:29this morning featured Hinton you may
13. 0:30recall in April at the head of the
14. 0:33opening of the Legacy Museum in
15. 0:34Montgomery Alabama it features his story
16. 0:36he spent listen to this story nearly 30
17. 0:39years on death row for crimes he did not
18. 0:41commit until he was released in 2015
19. 0:44Anthony Rea Hinton we are delighted we
20. 0:46have all read your book we are so
21. 0:48excited that you're joining us at the
22. 0:49table it's really it's an honor to meet
23. 0:51you and I want you to know this I've
24. 0:53known Oprah as you know for a very long
25. 0:55time I have not seen her as excited
26. 0:57about a book as she was since color
27. 0:59purple where you said if I could I would
28. 1:01stand out on the street I said I would
29. 1:04go on Fifth Avenue I put a little book
30. 1:06sign over me and I would hand out these
31. 1:08books of sandwich board I'll be handing
32. 1:10out these books I hope every person who
33. 1:13can hear our voice today that buys this
34. 1:15and that's how you felt about color
35. 1:17purple she wanted everybody to read it
36. 1:18what was it about this book it because
37. 1:20it's a memoir you normally don't pick
38. 1:22memoirs well no but I was at I was
39. 1:24actually doing a story for 60 minutes on
40. 1:27the museum in Montgomery Alabama founded
41. 1:31by Bryan Stevenson yes the lynching
42. 1:35Museum and I was I was actually rumbling
43. 1:38around Brian's office I'm just looking
44. 1:42at his bookshelves because I always like
45. 1:43to see what people are we and I saw this
46. 1:45aunt lying on his desk and I picked it
47. 1:48up and started like oh this is
48. 1:49interesting and then when I left he
49. 1:51handed it to me I said oh that's a book
50. 1:53I saw on your desk I was rumbling
51. 1:55through your desk and I started to read
52. 1:57it and I couldn't put it down
53. 1:57yeah it's a true story of this man's
54. 2:00anguish and the fact that he was
55. 2:04mistreated and misjudged has never
56. 2:08received any college apology for it from
57. 2:12the state of Alabama
58. 2:13and was on death row for 30 years for a
59. 2:18crime he did not commit you were
60. 2:20arrested you were mowing the grass at
61. 2:21your mom's house and even as you're in
62. 2:23the car the white police officer says
63. 2:25you're gonna be convicted first say what
64. 2:27you were charged with first child was
65. 2:29attempted murder for kidnap and first
66. 2:33degree robbery and as we was going
67. 2:36toward the jail they didn't know about a
68. 2:38gun that detect acts mean anything - do
69. 2:41you own a firearm and I said no and he
70. 2:43said do your mother on one I say yes and
71. 2:46I told him what kind and they dropped me
72. 2:49off in Dora police station went back to
73. 2:51my mother house my mother gave them the
74. 2:53gun trying to help me whatever the case
75. 2:55was
76. 2:56and as they had been fired in 25 years
77. 2:59yes take this over yes Oh 30 and when
78. 3:03they picked me back up as we was going
79. 3:06toward to jail I kept asking them why am
80. 3:08I being arrested they never had to
81. 3:09explain to me why I was being arrested
82. 3:12and finally I actually fit the first
83. 3:14time that's officer why you arrested me
84. 3:16and it seemed it set the office off and
85. 3:19he turned around and he said you want to
86. 3:21know why we arresting you and he told
87. 3:22them to charge as I haven't done any of
88. 3:24that he said well let me tell you
89. 3:26something right now I don't care whether
90. 3:29you did it or didn't do it but I'm gonna
91. 3:31make sure you found guilty and I said
92. 3:33for a crime I didn't commit
93. 3:34he said you must have a hearing problem
94. 3:36didn't I just tell you I don't care
95. 3:38mm-hmm cuz he said you're black yeah
96. 3:41well I got five he told me he said
97. 3:44there's five things they're gonna
98. 3:45convict you would you like to know what
99. 3:47they are and I said yes he's a number
100. 3:49one you're black number two a white man
101. 3:51is gonna say you shot it whether you
102. 3:53shot him or not I really don't care he
103. 3:56said number three you're gonna have a
104. 3:57white prosecute number four you're gonna
105. 3:59have a white judge and number five
106. 4:01you're gonna have an all-white jury do
107. 4:04you know what that's spelled and he
108. 4:06looked at me and he repeated the word
109. 4:07conviction conviction conviction
110. 4:09conviction conviction that's how it's
111. 4:11jargon and even as you were convicted in
112. 4:14this sham of the trial
113. 4:15total sham of a trial you prayed for
114. 4:18God's forgiveness for the people that
115. 4:20did this and I thought was what I think
116. 4:22is so amazing about this book is your
117. 4:25grace and
118. 4:26kindness that you then carried out with
119. 4:28with other men in prison and the the one
120. 4:32one of the parts that just struck me and
121. 4:34I just have to is that there's never
122. 4:35been a book club on death row
123. 4:37no the fan you brought books and I
124. 4:39underlined men would do all kinds of
125. 4:41crazy things rather than spend another
126. 4:43night with their own thoughts bring in
127. 4:44the books I thought let every man on the
128. 4:46row have a week away inside a book books
129. 4:52give you put you in the world that you
130. 4:56never thought you could go and I often
131. 4:58would say I don't need to go to
132. 5:00California give me a book that talks
133. 5:02about California and I can put it in my
134. 5:04head and imagine what it looked like him
135. 5:06and I had read a few books on the street
136. 5:09not break it and I felt that something
137. 5:13was missing all of us was there to been
138. 5:16condemned and been sentenced by the
139. 5:18world that we was would be better off
140. 5:21the yeah and so I decided that until
141. 5:25that day come let's live a life of
142. 5:27fullness and let's start it with a book
143. 5:29top and I started there had to go and
144. 5:31convince the warden because I have a
145. 5:32book to open can you imagine a book
146. 5:34loved on death row you've got people who
147. 5:36are therefore convicted of hanging just
148. 5:41black people this members of the KKK and
149. 5:44he's gotten those guys reading James
150. 5:46Baldwin yes that in the african-american
151. 5:49literature yes you had the grace from
152. 5:51your faith you had your mom talk about
153. 5:54her and Lester Lester Lester with whom
154. 5:58also had lots of grace and
155. 6:08I'm on was my mother and father my
156. 6:15father lost his mind when I was about
157. 6:17four years old and my mom did everything
158. 6:23she could to make sure that we was
159. 6:26brought up right I often say that if I
160. 6:29had one wish in this world I would wish
161. 6:32that every child could have a mother the
162. 6:34way my mother were and I never went
163. 6:39without clothes I never went without
164. 6:40food I never went without ruin wall I
165. 6:42never went without anything that a child
166. 6:45needs but above all of that she gave me
167. 6:48unconditional love and I was blessed to
168. 6:52have a room in the bush and his name was
169. 6:54Lester Bailey and everyone else went
170. 6:58they back home he was there for me he's
171. 7:01here for you today we'll show Lester
172. 7:03anything in the green room and he was
173. 7:06calm and sit and we never did be Causton
174. 7:09my innocent of guilt because he know who
175. 7:11I was and he know the way we was brought
176. 7:13up and so we just always been friends
177. 7:17since the age of four and six and often
178. 7:19people say well you have a true friend
179. 7:23that will come see you and I often tell
180. 7:25people to be honest which he didn't have
181. 7:27a whole lot else to do and so why not
182. 7:29come see me in Smitty I've never missed
183. 7:38a week Lester worked the overnight he
184. 7:41was there I say people need an open
185. 7:42their life I also now say mr. Hinton is
186. 7:47that you're there you watch 54 people
187. 7:49walk by your cell and one woman to go to
188. 7:52the to the death chamber to the electric
189. 7:54chair that you could smell their burning
190. 7:56flesh and you all would cheer you would
191. 7:58scream their names to let them know what
192. 8:00as they were heading to the death we
193. 8:02didn't know whether they had a family or
194. 8:04friend back in the death chamber
195. 8:05watching them and thank you and we
196. 8:09always had this little pact we was
197. 8:11family and we would bang at the balls
198. 8:15they would execute at 12:01
199. 8:17and we would start bringing about 10
200. 8:20minutes tutorial and we were banging -
201. 8:22about 20 minutes after 12 and that was a
202. 8:26signet - the condemned prison no matter
203. 8:29what we are still with you no matter
204. 8:30what we love you and the last thing we
205. 8:33wanted him to hear was the banging on
206. 8:35the boss know somebody cares compassion
207. 8:38you said it has no color where will you
208. 8:41stay we're gonna kill everything else in
209. 8:43the rest of the show we're gonna take a
210. 8:44break we're gonna come back with mr.
211. 8:47Hinton and Oprah we'll be at the table