TheDaak review

Book: The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row by Anthony Ray Hinton with Lara Love Hardin, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2018, 269 pages, ISBN 978-1- 846-4573-8

by Malika Kukreja

Have you ever read a book where the foreword narrates the gist of the entire story ahead, but instead of putting it aside, you become even more keen to immerse yourself in it? This is what Anthony Ray Hinton’s chronicle, The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row, entails as he hopefully waits for justice and freedom in the span of thirty years for a crime which he did not even commit. Hinton’s book is not just another tragic incident that puts an innocent Black man in prison to capture the brutality of racism and injustice, but it is a story of “Belief. Family. Truth. Faith. Justice” (p. 65). It is his journey from his teens to his adulthood, the most of latter being lost while waiting for justice from death row accompanied by the untiring hope of his mother, his best friend, Lester and the efforts of his later attorney, Bryan Stevenson. Ray was arrested in 1985, being accused of committing two murders and a robbery in South Alabama, due to the many misgivings in his case – being Black, the uninterested State defendant and the incompetent expert, the inefficiency of the justice system in the country, mounted by the inability of this system to correct its mistakes unless provoked by lawyers like Bryan. Ironically, Ray’s presence at his workplace during the time of the two murders or even during the robbery, and the chance for his mother or friends to step forward during his trial initially was dismissed, leading him to death row at Holman Prison. Ray was finally released in 2015 by the orders of the US Supreme Court and this book is a valuable account of how “the sun does shine” in a period of waiting and exile.

Thirty years in a prison cell closely upheld Ray’s relentless spirit due to his belief and faith in the inherent essence of truth and justice to prevail, even though the place socially and mentally exiled him. Ray’s belief in God is a driving factor throughout his life, even on death row, when he hears others being executed “just down the hall” or even when he is informed of his mother’s death towards the end. This belief gives him the strength to pray for a miracle all the time, not only for himself, but for others including the Judge or his attorney who put him away. However, when waiting for nearly thirty years with rats and roaches in your cell, this belief does become shaky at times, during which Ray believed that God had failed and he put his Bible aside. Nonetheless, his mother continued to strengthen him in the meantime to uplift his faith. And then one night after days of keeping silent, Ray takes out his Bible to offer condolences to an inconsolable fellow prisoner whose mother passed away. From then on, he prays continuously to express gratitude, forgiveness, hope and belief that his innocence will be proven. 

The agony in waiting is not experienced by Ray alone as his going away is equally traumatic for his mother and Lester. Ray’s mother misses his presence for everyday activities like cooking for him or going to the Church together, while consistently praying for him to be home. Her faith is one of the reasons that helps Ray in restoring his own faith, even as he is ready to take his own life after hearing the news of her passing away. Standing determined throughout this period is the friendship that Ray shares with Lester, who does not even miss one single visit to see his friend in the prison, sends money and books for him and reminds him until the end, “We’re still walking home, Ray” (p. 221). Lester’s wife, Sylvia, also a regular visitor, motivates Ray to start a book club in the prison, one of the first initiatives for the inmates to discuss more important issues, transporting them to a different world which otherwise banished them in their cells. Meanwhile, Bryan’s unwavering fight for justice for Ray not only brings the latter some hope, but a friend and brother, who iterated, “Hang in there.” Ray’s book is a narrative of beautiful relationships that go beyond family, one that nurtures humanity and compassion for other inmates, as he realises that the choice between love and hatred during this long journey would only bring pain to him if he chooses the latter.

“Everything, I realised, is a choice. And spending your days waiting to die is no way to live” (p. 118). Although Ray’s time in the prison is about stillness, the same routine from morning until evening for thirty years, his mind did not abide by this choice. In his imagination, he would often wonder about watching Wimbledon, or playing for the Yankees, or marrying Sandra Bullock, or visiting Buckingham Palace to be hosted by the Queen herself. This drift was to escape reality or the gripping darkness and fear of being exiled in a prison cell. Ray could literally smell the electrocution of other inmates, forcing him to imagine his own death periodically. Realising that his imagination could both be a blessing and a curse, he opts for it to make choices that help him to wait without having to give up. 

“I could choose to give up or to hang on. Hope was a choice. Faith was a choice. And more than anything else, love was a choice. Compassion was a choice.” 

Ray (p. 115)

Compassion towards and acceptance of a fellow White inmate, who was convicted of lynching a Black boy, despite Ray’s own incarceration being in prison owing to racism was also a choice.

A reader feels compelled to shout and tell everyone that Ray is innocent. However, that decision unfortunately lay in the hands of the same procedural system that put him away. Barring the fact that this story resonates with all others that the media narrates each day about the innocent Blacks in the US prison system, there are several more reasons to not put this book away. It is a mirror that holds up reality wherein waiting in death row could feel like a situation of exile from one’s own life, but it also became an opportunity for Ray to introspect about the ways in which he could spend this time instead of cursing it. It is also a reminder to not underestimate life’s simple pleasures like spending time with family and friends or to enjoy nature, because when chained, freedom is the only desire on death row. Ironically, in Ray’s case, freedom becomes difficult to adapt to, because its desire contradicts the reality that he was kept away from while in a prison exile. His life came to a standstill, but the world moved forward in thirty years, the time he was waiting for the sun to shine.

©TheDaak2023