Letters from Lesra

Hurricane by Bob Dylan

During the 1960 with severe segregation laws still in place, USA, a young sportman called Rubin Carter a.k.a. the Hurricane was apprehended for the double murder in New Jersey. He was sentenced despite the evidence not adding up, despite a near dead eye witness saying it is not him, despite timelines not adding up.

Bob Dylan wrote a song in 1976 called the Hurricane...

'Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall
She sees the bartender in a pool of blood
Cries out, "My God, they killed them all!"
Here comes the story of the Hurricane
The man the authorities came to blame
For somethin' that he never done
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world'

During 1980 a young man from Queens, called Lesra Martin bought his book whilst living in Toronto, Canada. 'The Sixteenth Round' was written in jail by Rubin Carter and Lesra read it passionately. On the 20th September 1980 a letter arrived for Rubin Carter in jail. The following is how the letter started:

Dear Mr. Rubin Carter,

I read your book, and I really felt sad...about what happened to you.                I want you to know how much your book meant to me.

Rubin Carter answered this young man as his story inspired him:
"Everything I lost...that really matters, I lost at the hands of white folks.                  I know what you mean, but they ain't all bad.

This started a correspondence that lead to the release of Rubin Hurricane Carter in 1985.

I created this artwork as a response to the song, the story and the injustice which sticks to us as people in this century, the traces of injustice embedded in theDNA of the people we disregarded.