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Hurricane 

By: Emily Eade

“Here comes the story of the Hurricane

The man theThe man the authorities came to blame

For somethin' that he never done

Put in a prison cell, but one time he coulda been

The champion of the world”

Bob Dylan is known for his poetic, heart wrenching, and protest songwriting. “Hurricane'' is the perfect mixture of that. Dylan used this song as a protest against social injustice by using a real-life story of Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter, a middleweight boxer who was falsely charged with murder, imprisoned, and tried in court. Unfortunately, this was due to the color of his skin. 

This is Rubin “Hurricane” Carter's story… 

An early morning of June 1966, two men entered a bar and began shooting, killing two people and wounding two. Shortly after the murders, the police would pull over a car consisting of Rubin Carter, and John Artis. Only minutes later, two eyewitnesses called the police about a getaway car, matching the same description as the car Carter and Artis were in, ultimately causing them to be arrested. It seemed as if the only evidence the court had were a few eyewitnesses, saying that the two men were black who drove away in a white car and had a .32 caliber pistol and a 12-gauge shotgun. There was no evidence of the two men having guns, nor having gun residue on them. The defense, led by Raymond A. Brown, focused on inconsistencies in the evidence given by two of the eyewitnesses. Brown would also gather witnesses for the two men who followed their alibi at the time of the shooting. But the all-white jury believed the two men were guilty. Leaving Carter and Artis with life sentences in prison. 

In 1975, Dylan would read Carter's autobiography and would be inspired to write his story in a song. He expresses his passionate rage against social injustice by telling a story of two black men who were framed and convicted by white cops, white witnesses, and an all-white jury. After creating the song that grabbed the attention of so many people around the country, Dylan would play a sold-out benefit concert at Madison Square Garden. Dylan would raise $100,000 for Carter’s defense in December 1975. 

In 1976, the two men would get a retrial, but yet again the justice system let them down. Without Dylan, Carter and Artis wouldn’t have been given the exposure that they needed. In 1985, Federal Judge H. Lee Sarokin ruled that Carter had not received a fair trial and the conviction was overturned. Carter was released after being wrongly convicted for a crime for two decades. Carter lost twenty years of his life due to the prosecution being “based on racism rather than reason and concealment rather than disclosure” as per what the granted writ noted. 

“Yes, that's the story of the Hurricane

But it won't be over 'til they clear his name

And give him back the time he's done

Put in a prison cell, but one time he coulda been

The champion of the world”