Civic Catalysts: Cultivating Justice & Designing an Equitable Future for All
April 11, 2026 | 9:00 a.m.
MKA Upper School Campus - 6 Lloyd Road, Montclair, NJ 07042 - Weiss Auditorium
Built on the tenets of ethical leadership, HackBAC is a forum for students to conceptualize the change they want to see in their communities. This year’s theme, Civic Catalysts: Cultivating Justice & Designing an Equitable Future for All, encourages a focus on pursuing positive social impact within the criminal justice system. Honoring the interconnectedness of society and acknowledging that justice is proximate, participants will innovate and problem-solve together, envisioning empathic solutions to these issues, which are all of our issues.
As a school community, MKA has the opportunity to experience a select portion of this conference and join in conversation with Anthony Ray Hinton, whose words and message are of unmistakable value. We are deeply grateful to the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) for supporting both HackBAC and MKA in connecting us with Mr. Hinton. His journey will undoubtedly inspire empathy, activism, and positive change.
About Anthony:
Anthony Ray Hinton survived for 30 years on Alabama's death row following a wrongful conviction. His story is a decades-long journey to exoneration and freedom. In 1985, Mr. Hinton was wrongly convicted of the unsolved murders of two fast-food restaurant managers based on the testimony of ballistics experts for the State who claimed that the crime bullets came from a dusty revolver found in Mr. Hinton's mother’s closet. Without the benefit of a competent expert to challenge the State’s theory (Mr. Hinton’s lawyer hired a ballistics expert who was blind in one eye), an all-white jury convicted Mr. Hinton, and he was sentenced to death. After years of petitioning to have the revolver re-analyzed, three independent experts concluded that the bullets could not have been fired from his mother’s revolver. With the assistance of the Equal Justice Initiative, led by attorney Bryan Stevenson, Mr. Hinton was freed in 2015. Since his release, Mr. Hinton has traveled the world sharing his story and discussing the changes that need to be made to prevent similar injustices from happening to other people. In 2018, Mr. Hinton published The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row, which was selected for Oprah’s Book Club and is a New York Times bestseller. In 2019, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from St. Bonaventure University, and in 2023, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Emory University.
Learn More: Anthony Ray Hinton Named Atlanta Falcons 2023 Inspire Change Changemaker