The plight of Rubin Hurricane Carter has been closely covered in the media over the span of almost four decades. Carter's journey from the jailhouse to Harvard tells many notable stories within itself. Carter's predicament became nationally significant because it forced America, specifically Patterson, New Jersey, to take an honest look at the racial climate and tensions of the nation, the weaknesses, injustices, and strengths in the judicial system, and at the same time, showed a nation how an individual who has been wrongly imprisoned, for over twenty years, can still become an educated, respected, and productive part of society.
On the dawn of June 17, 1966, four people were shot and fatally wounded in Paterson, New Jersey. Three caucasians was killed inside the Lafayette Bar and Grill and a black tavern owner on the other side of town. Twenty nine year old Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a prominent professional boxer, at the height of his career, along with John Artis was arrested and charged with triple murder. Despite the lack of credible witnesses, evidence, motive, and contradictory information presented by the Paterson Police department and Prosecutor, Carter and Artis were convicted of murder, by an all white jury and sentenced to life in prison. Seven years after their convictions, the main witnesses, Alfred Bello and Arthur Bradley recanted their original testimony, which led to a new trial due mostly to the massive media attention and pressure. Nevertheless, a second jury upheld the original convictions in a 1976 trial. Artis was eventually paroled in 1981 and carter remained in jail until 1985. .
The Rubin Hurricane story began in the sixties. "According to Netfirms Web Hosting, The sixties were an exciting, revolutionary, turbulent time of great social change: assassination, civil rights, a controversial and devisive war in Vietnam, and peace marches- as cited at http://www.