The Best Weekend of My Life

If I could go back to one weekend in my life, it would be the weekend I met the late Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and Johnnie Cochran Jr.

Here’s my story.

February 2002, I finally sat down to watch “The Hurricane” starring Denzel Washington. After watching it, I told myself that one day I would meet and interview Rubin “Hurricane” Carter and Johnnie Cochran Jr.

October of that same year, I was sitting in my News Class at Humber College when our News Director came in. He told us that there was going to be a conference hosted by the Association In Defence of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC) in Toronto. There was going to be an opportunity to interview Johnnie Cochran Jr., Rubin “Hurricane” Carter as well as a few other individuals who had been wrongly convicted. He wanted to know if anyone wanted to cover the story. I was the first to volunteer and got the job.

I had a month to prepare myself. I needed to master my interviewing skills – the one skill in my Radio Broadcasting course that I hated the most.

The weekend that I had been anticipating had finally arrived.

Mr. Cochran had promised me earlier that day at a media conference that I could interview him before his big speech that night.

After ten minutes of chasing him around, he finally noticed me, stopped what he was doing and told me that I could proceed with my interview. After I asked my first question, I forgot about all the other questions that I had prepared to ask him. My interview turned into a five minute conversation with a man that helped free so many individuals who were wrongly convicted.

I was on cloud nine.

                             

The following day, I got to sit down with Rubin “Hurricane” Carter. Mr. Carter told me his story about how he and his friend, John Artis, were convicted for triple murder in 1967. He spent 22 years in prison for a crime he never committed. He was released in February 1988.

Before we said our good-byes, he autographed my copy of “Hurricane: The Miraculous Journey of Rubin Carter” written by James S. Hirsch.

  

Not only did I meet the two men I had said I was going to meet, I also mastered the art of interviewing and got to write and produce a half hour radio documentary titled, “LIFE” on the stories of those I had met who were wrongly convicted.

It was a weekend that I will never forget.

What is one memorable weekend that you will never forget?

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When you get a chance, please visit my friend Tyrone’s blog. His posts are insightful and very thought provoking. See his blog here.

Thanks for reading and keep smiling :)