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Ray Hinton's Reflective Essay: Alternative Spring Break

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I am 21 and for as long as I can remember I have heard many stories about innocent people being accused of and being punished for crimes they did not commit. On Monday, March 20th of this year, I met Anthony Ray Hinton and learned about his story. Arrested on suspicion of two capital murders at age 29. He was convicted and sentenced to death despite having a reliable alibi and passing a polygraph test. It was only after repeated efforts by the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) team that the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously overturned his conviction based on his attorney’s deficient representation and he was eventually exonerated after 30 years in solitary confinement on Friday, April 3rd, 2015. I had the opportunity to go on an Alternative Spring Break trip to Alabama. The trip to the EJI, an organization that advocates for marginalized communities, really the set a tone for my week of learning and service work in Alabama. On Tuesday, I had the pleasure of touring the Dexter Church Parsonage, learning about the pastoral beginnings of Dr. King, as well as the Southern Poverty Law Center museum where I was stunned to find a memorial for everyone who died during the struggle for Civil Rights. …show more content…

From the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute to the 16th Street Baptist Church (church where four young girls were killed in 1963). The next day (Thursday), I got to tour the Dexter Baptist Church seeing the old Dr. King office and stand in the exact place he once did. In a week filled with great experiences, the greatest were on Friday. I visited the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic site and Tuskegee University, an HBCU with such a great

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