The Man from the Big Red Truck

Early in our coverage of the 11th Annual Fast & Vigil, we referenced a mysterious man who, when asked where he was from, said only that he was from "a big red truck."

That would be George White. This is his story, brought to us by NCADP intern Maxine Moffett:

George White is haunted by the man who on Feb. 27, 1985 entered his business and shot both him and his wife, Charlene, injuring him and killing her. And he was haunted twice by the criminal justice system, which thought he was the killer. Within one year, White was tried, convicted and sentenced to life in prison. “It was a mockery trial, evidence was lost and some was purposely hidden,” White recalls. “I sat and rotted in prison for over two years, before my innocence was proven. If I left it up to the state of Alabama I would be dead, and my children would have been orphans.”

White said he “had to choose if I was going to let the hatred and vengeance that I held in my heart for the killer, the district attorneys, and the state of Alabama destroy me….What began with a horrible act of violence should not be memorialized by an act of vengeance. Hate is a continuation, not an ending.”

White went on to become an activist against the death penalty. He co-founded Journey of Hope…From Violence to Healing, a grassroots organization that believes the death penalty only prolongs suffering, prevents healing, perpetuates the cycle of violence and thus creates more victims. To learn more about the Journey of Hope, go here.