Wrongfully Convicted Men Open Restaurant To Help Fellow Sufferers

Two New York City men were wrongfully convicted for murders they didn’t commit became business partners.

Derrick Hamilton and Shabaka Shakur met behind bars where they worked together for more than 20 years as jailhouse lawyers for the wrongfully convicted, including themselves.

After being released the duo invested some of their settlement money in a restaurant called Brownstone, hoping to restore their connections with the community and live normal lives.

“We knew that once we were released that people are always going to have that stigma against you that you were in prison,” Shakur said. “So we wanted to prove that we were assets and not liabilities, that we could go back into the community and be productive citizens.”

Wrongful convictions still separate hundreds of Black families and ruin thousands of Black lives. We are pleased that there are men of active position who don’t ask white racists to find a solution for them, who prefer to act ingeniously and effectively. We hope that the restaurant will be profitable and will bring a hundredfold return of money.