Recently on January 19th, Tampa Prep hosted guest speaker Anthony Ray Hinton to share his personal story and experiences with students and faculty. Hinton was held on Alabama’s death row for nearly thirty years, from 1986 to his exoneration in 2015, for a crime he didn’t commit.
As Hinton spoke in front of the student body, he recounted his story in vivid detail. In 1985, he was arrested based on false identification for robbery, kidnapping, and murder. When he was brought to trial, there were multiple factors that resulted in his sentencing, including the fact that he couldn’t afford a proper defense attorney, he was assigned an ineffective ballistics expert, and that he was tried by an all-white jury who were predisposed to show racial bias during the trial.
Hinton was held on death row at the Holman Correctional Facility for the next 28 years. Hinton reflected on his experiences with intense emotion, opening up about his relationships with the other inmates and how he was able to keep his joy despite his incarceration. He also addressed the systemic issues within the United States’ current justice system and how it is designed to be disproportionately unjust towards people of color, and particularly Black Americans. However, he also shared his hope for the next generation to be proponents of change in society.
“I hope, I pray that this generation will do what my generation and the generation behind me failed to do,” Hinton said, “I hope that you will rise up, and I hope that you will have the courage, the backbone, to be great citizens and make this life fair for each and every one.”
This was not Hinton’s first time speaking to Tampa Prep; he visited the school once before in 2016. Students and faculty were moved by Hinton’s story, which was one of Lisa Harman’s goals in bringing him back to speak to an entirely new audience.
“We have Ray coming back because it’s important that stories and experiences like that are heard, and that you all know what’s going on and get that real world perspective,” Harman said.
During his day at Tampa Prep, aside from his speech to the whole school, some students had the chance to hear Hinton speak in smaller groups. These groups were made up of a variety of students, such as those who read his book, The Sun Does Shine, over the summer, and certain classes and clubs that have relevance to his story.
Students left with all sorts of powerful takeaways after hearing what Hinton had to say. It prompted many to start thinking more deeply about important themes he discussed.
“It astounded me how he was able to keep up such a positive mentality during a time of such hardship and discrimination,” senior Kat Grubbs said.
“His story is definitely a learning lesson on how bad things happen to good people,” senior Olivia Pierce said, “and that hate is not the way to solve a problem; forgiveness is always the way to go.”
