Whenever Denzel Washington sees a newspaper article about
the the "Hurricane" controversy, he just closes the
paper, he told a Hollywood reporter.*
People risked their lives to tell the truth about Rubin Carter,
but Washington won't even read a news article that might lead
him to that truth.
If he did, he might know there was significant credible evidence
that resulted in Carter's two triple murder convictions. He might
know the former boxer got out of prison not because of conspiracies
and manufactured evidence, but because an extraordinarily liberal
judge saw two procedural errors that weren't to his liking.
The severity of the crime, the intensity of the debate, and
Carter's history of violence and anti-social behavior ought to
be enough to keep Mr. Washington's intellectual curiosity on
alert. Instead he has chosen to take the word of a man who has
everything to gain by lying. He multiplies his mistake by calling
that man the embodiment of love.
Prosecutors who studied the facts called Rubin Carter the
embodiment of evil. They said Carter fired a shotgun into the
back of a defenseless man and into the body of a terrified mother
of four. Twenty-four jurors, including two blacks, agreed.
Mr. Washington ignores all this and promotes Rubin Carter
as a worthy hero. He uses his public voice to effectively disparage
the work of police and prosecutors who know they got the right
man.
Denzel Washington has every right to share his considerable
spotlight with Rubin Carter, but the Academy would do well to
turn that spotlight elsewhere.
-- Cal Deal, 2/21/00
Washington as Rubin Carter,
nice guy
Rubin Carter