Hunter Biden released a statement on Tuesday after being convicted of two counts of falsely claiming he was not a drug user when purchasing a gun and one count of illegally possessing a gun while using drugs, which read in part, “By God's grace, recovery is possible and I am grateful to experience that grace each and every day.” President Joe Biden released a separate statement in support of his son, but what I found most moving about it was that he focused on where Hunter Biden is now, rather than where he was in 2018 when he committed his crimes. He eloquently stated, “Many families who have had loved ones struggle with addiction understand the sense of pride it brings to see their loved one overcome and become so strong and resilient in recovery.”
I have known many Hunter Bidens in my life. I was a Hunter Biden myself.
I've known many Hunter Bidens in my life, I've been a Hunter Biden, and I was fortunate to have a father who was there for me, just as Hunter Biden's father was there for him.
I discovered cocaine in 1981 in a dorm room at Howard University, the mecca of higher education, and continued to use it until the end of my final sentence in 2000. I was both using and selling it. I often tell people that I attended another Howard University, the one that Ta-Nehisi Coates barely mentions in his acclaimed book, Between the World and Me. During my time on campus, there was an invisible subculture driven by an interest in cocaine that was accepted, then it wasn't.
I dropped out of college and started selling drugs full time. It didn't faze me when one of my best friends was robbed of his drugs, shot seven times in the face with a .357, and electrocuted in a bathtub in his Northwest DC apartment. It didn't faze me when 10 men kicked in the door of a rundown apartment in Miami, pointed guns at me and my friends, and robbed us of $15,000. The lies I told my father — fictional stories of what he wanted me to be — only complicated our relationship.
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In truth, I continued to deny it even after I was convicted of three counts of theft and served an 18-month sentence in Fairfax County, Virginia. At my sentencing, my father came up from Birmingham to let me know he hadn't given up on me, and in return promised me that I would never go to prison again. I knew he was very disappointed, and I also knew he wanted me to believe all the lies I had told him.
It wasn't until years later, while serving nearly 15 years in a Montgomery County, Maryland, prison, that I considered making a change. Cocaine had taken over my life to such an extent.
My father was a respected high school teacher and a mentor to many of his students. After they left school, he helped them find jobs and navigate post-racial Birmingham. I have always been Mr. Houghton's son. His former students have always told me how much they respected my father. He was a proud, level-headed man who cared deeply about people. But he couldn't save his son from drugs, destruction and death.
Clarence Horton and Randall Horton. Courtesy of Randall Horton
Neither could Joe Biden, who was one of the most senior and influential men in the country before he became president. In 2022, Fox News featured a voicemail a father left for his son in 2018, in which he wrote, “It's your dad. I'm calling to tell you I love you. I love you more than the whole world, my friend. I need help. I don't know what to do. I know you don't know either.”
Like Hunter Biden, I have heard such expressions of love from my father. I know how painful it can be to hear such words when you are in the chaotic void of drug addiction. But even when the power of drugs is terrifying, a father's true love can be a wake-up call to lead you out of the darkness.
While awaiting trial in Maryland on four theft charges, I didn't call my dad at first because I felt I would have let him down again. I ended up being transferred to a special unit called Prison Addiction Services and put into a group where we were required to write about the pain we had caused those closest to us. After writing about my dad in one of those sessions, I called him to tell him I'd failed, but he was clearly disappointed but told me he loved me.
The father then abandoned his dignity in front of the court, collapsed, began to tremble and said in a husky voice, “Please, help my son. Please.”
In response to my motion to reconsider the sentence, the prosecutor spoke about me as if I was the worst person in the world. He made me feel like I was below zero. But then my father, who came from Birmingham again, became my only character witness and told my story in court and everything changed.
The judge said that I showed a lot of potential as a child, that I was raised to respect others, did well in school, had a promising future as a young adult, and that my sentence was not due to any mistakes. He told the judge that if I were released, my mother, father, and sister would help me.
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And then my father lost all dignity in the courtroom, he collapsed, he began to shake, and in a husky voice he said, “Please help my son, please. Please.” His rivers of tears became my tears, my lawyer's tears, the tears of everyone in the courtroom, and in that moment I knew I could never go back to that way. Seeing my father so vulnerable, begging for others to help his son in a room full of strangers is something I'll never forget.
The judge was in tears when he granted my plea. When I returned to the jail, the bailiff told me that in his 30 years he had never seen the judge do what he had just done. He told me to never look back because I have now received a miracle. My father turns 92 next month and is grateful that he has had the opportunity to see me become a better person. Through all the adversity that my actions have brought to our relationship, our bond has become unbreakable.
For years, my father has made similar statements to those Joe Biden made on Tuesday: that it makes him proud to see someone struggle and get better. I don't know Hunter Biden or Joe Biden, but I think their father-son relationship is representative of a lot of people in this country. The only difference is that Joe Biden is a public servant, so their relationship will play out in public.
Everything gets politicized these days, but instead of politicizing this moment, maybe we should celebrate Joe Biden for trying to be a good father after losing several children. I think Hunter's father, like my father, knows that sometimes the prodigal son returns. And as a better man, a better person. But like the story of the prodigal son, we need to be found back in the arms of a loving father.
Randall Horton
