In this April 1991 interview, Rubin Carter, the ‘Hurricane,’ sat down with Dini Petty to reclaim a narrative that had been stolen by a flawed justice system for two decades. At the height of his career as the world’s #1 middleweight boxing contender, Rubin Carter was wrongfully convicted of a 1966 triple murder—a case a federal judge later decried as being fueled by ‘racism rather than reason’. This rare interview, recorded as his book Lazarus and the Hurricane hit the national stage, captures a man who emerged from 20 years of wrongful imprisonment not with a heart full of rage, but with a soul intact. As Rubin Carter famously tells Dini: ‘Bitterness only consumes the vessel that contains it’.

The conversation serves as a foundational text for the wrongful conviction and criminal justice reform movement, predating the 1999 Denzel Washington film by nearly a decade. Joining the discussion with Rubin Carter are co-authors Sam Chaiton and Terry Swinton, who reveal an extraordinary secondary arc of redemption involving Lesra Martin (the ‘Lazarus’ of the title). They detail the transformation of a functionally illiterate 14-year-old from Brooklyn who, through their mentorship and a move to Canada, became a 27-year-old sociology scholar on his way to law school. It is a dual story of hope: a boxing legend reclaiming his freedom and a young boy reclaiming his future.

Beyond the triumphs, the interview honors the heavy cost of systemic failure, specifically the tragedy of John Artis, Rubin Carter’s innocent co-defendant who lost 19 years of his life simply for being in the wrong car at the wrong time. This archival gem from The Dini Petty Show is more than a true crime retrospective; it is a profound philosophical meditation on human dignity. It captures the raw, pre-Hollywood history of a man who fought a country that would never officially apologize and won a victory that resonated far beyond the boxing ring. As the Rubin Carter legacy continues to inspire advocates today, this footage stands as a testament to the endurance of the human spirit against insurmountable odds.