Rubin Carter:
Civil Rights Phony--

Carter's tall tales
about :

• speaking out against police brutality

• the Selma March

• the Watts Riots

• gun smuggling

Jimmie Lee Jackson, shot while trying to protect his mother and grandfather from state troopers during a voting rights protest in Marion, Alabama. His death sparked the Selma to Montgomery marches. He is one of the 40 people honored at the civil rights memorial in Montgomery.

Two more martyrs of the Selma to Montgomery marches were Rev. James Reeb and Mrs. Violet Liuzzo.

Further reading:

The Children
by David Halberstam

Walking with the Wind
by John Lewis

State troopers attack and spray tear gas on protestors in Selma on March 7, 1965: "Bloody Sunday." The figure on the ground in the light colored coat is John Lewis, now a congressman from Georgia.

Was Carter invited to join the Selma
Voters' Rights March by Martin Luther King?

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter claims that he was a black activist and that's why the police framed him for murder. He says that back in 1965, he got a personal invitation from Martin Luther King, Jr., to go to Selma, Alabama, but he turned King down because he knew that he wouldn't abide by King's pacifist rules -- that if he was attacked by Southern sheriffs, he would have to fight back. But this story turns out to be just another one of Carter's tall tales.

At the time Carter supposedly got a call from King, he wasn't at home in New Jersey, he was in England, preparing for a fight. Carter wasn't even in the U.S. when the first two Selma marches were held.

Carter's Fight Schedule Feb - March 1965 Feb 22 Carter fights Fabio Bettini in Paris, KO 10. Feb 25 Carter travels from France to England. March 9 Carter fights Harry Scott in London TK 9 March 10 or 11? Carter returns to Paterson, but does not join Martin Luther King and the marchers in Selma. March 27 Carter signs to fight Johnny Torres

Civil Rights timeline Feb. 18 Jimmie Jackson shot during voting rights protest in Marion, Alabama Feb. 21 Malcolm X assassinated Feb 26 Jimmie Jackson dies, protest march is planned for Selma to Montgomery. March 7 "Bloody Sunday" March 9 Martin Luther King leads symbolic march which stops at the Pettus bridge, site of the Bloody Sunday attack March 13 Carter's cousin Ed leads a sympathy demonstration in Paterson. March 21-25 March from Selma to Montgomery

A march from Selma to Montgomery (to confront Governor George Wallace) was first planned for Sunday, March 7th. In his memoirs Carter says that he refused to attend the Selma march, which the Alabama authorities brought to a "swift and violent conclusion."

There were several Selma marches but the only one that was brought to a swift and violent conclusion was the first one, dubbed "Bloody Sunday," when a posse of Alabama law enforcement officers attacked, clubbed and tear- gassed a peaceful crowd of about 600 people.

If Martin Luther King called Carter at his home to invite Carter to a march (which King himself, in fact, was unable to attend), then King had to have called Carter after Feb. 18th and before March 7th. (see timeline above)

Carter was in Europe during that time. He wasn't at home to receive King's call.

He was still in Europe on March 9th, when Martin Luther King led a second, symbolic march in Selma to protest what had happened on March 7th. He was back in Paterson by the time his cousin Ed organized a sympathy march in Paterson to show solidarity for King and the Selma marchers. But Carter doesn't mention his cousin's demonstration and there's no sign that Carter attended it.

Carter speaks of getting the phone call from King around a month after Malcolm X's assassination. This puts the call closer to the March to Montgomery which started on March 21st. But this march was not brought to a swift and violent conclusion. It lasted four days and concluded with a demonstration in Montgomery, which many celebrities attended. At the very least, Carter doesn't know as much about the Selma marches as a man who supposedly was acquainted with Martin Luther King, should know.

Carter's version from The 16th Round:

"[A] month after Malcolm X was assassinated, I had just returned home from a successful tour of Europe, the highlight of which had been my nine-round knockout of the British middle-weight champ in London. The telephone rang early one morning. Mae Thelma answered it. It was from Dr. Martin Luther King. He wanted to know if I would consider coming down to Selma, Alabama, to march in his demonstration to dramatize the voting discrimination. I had made the March on Washington with him in 1963.

"Alabama!" I exclaimed aloud, and saw the fright in my wife's face. She emphatically shook her head from side to side, telling me, "No! Hell, no!" Her grandparents lived in the South, and she went to see them quite often, but would never let me go with her. She was scared that them honkies would get me down there and kill me because of my arrogant attitude toward tobacco-chewing crackers. But she really had no cause to worry, because I was thinking about the same damn thing myself.

"No, I can't go down there," I told the good Reverend. "That would be foolishness at the risk of suicide. Those people would kill me dead! I wouldn't stand a snowball's chance in hell." And it's a good thing I didn't go, too, because the march was brought to a swift and violent conclusion by Alabama dogs and law enforcement officers -- which I would say are synonymous."

Once again, Carter has tried to insinuate that he has civil rights credentials -- he doesn't. His telephone call from King -- if it happened at all -- couldn't have happened as he describes in his book. Further, not going to Selma after getting a personal plea from Martin Luther King, Jr., doesn't make you an activist.