NAACP Branch Marks 100th Year In GR
Grand Rapids, MI — Members of The Grand Rapids Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) kicked - off the commemoration and celebration of the organization's 100 years of activism in this city.
Activism was at the heart of the theme: Our Moment for Momentum.
Korey Wise, one of the Central Park Five was scheduled to host three events at the LINC Gallery, as part of the NAACP's Freedom Fund Conference on October 17, with the purpose of bringing awareness and education to the upcoming elections, the 2020 census, and education on civic engagement.
Weather conditions in prohibited his arrival in time for the Community Engagement breakfast and lunch, both of which attracted hundreds from the community, including high school and college students.
Panelists for the breakfast included, David Moran, Co - founder Michigan Innocence Clinic; Tracey Brame, Associate Dean, Cooley Law School.
The Youth and College Luncheon also to feature Korey Wise had sold out prior to Thursday. Other panelists scheduled were Isaiah Oliver, CEO & President Community Foundation of Greater Flint; Wesley Watson, Regional Organizing Director NextGen America; Ja'Von Fields, Youth Council President, NAACP Greater Grand Rapids and Stacy McGinnis, Superintendent, Kent County Juvenile Detention Center.
Wise arrived in Grand Rapids in time to host the 5:30p - 9pm Thursday evening Mixer. And will also share his story at the annual Freedom Fund Gala at the JW Marriott on October 18 at 6pm.
That story goes back to his teen years. When police began collecting suspects in the 1989 Central Park Jogger case, Korey Wise's friend, 15 - year - old Yusef Salaam, was brought in for questioning. In a show of support, Korey decided to accompany him, the police ended up pulling him into the interrogation room as well.
At 16, Korey was the oldest of the boys who would eventually become known as the "Central Park Five." And because of his age, he was legally allowed to be questioned by detectives without the supervision of a parent or guardian. Combine this with the fact that Korey struggled with hearing issues and a learning disability.
By the end of his interrogation, Korey had given both a written and a videotaped confession. The details in his statements didn't match the details of the actual crime, and Korey would later say that the police, coerced him into submitting a false confession.
Despite the lack of solid evidence, all five boys were ultimately found guilty of various charges of rape and assault in the Central Park Jogger case.
But unlike the other four teens, who were tried as minors and sentenced to five to 10 years in a youth correctional facility (where they could be held until they turned 21), Korey was sentenced to five to 15 years in an adult prison.
Eventually, Korey met murderer and serial rapist Matias Reyes in prison, and Matias confessed to be to being the actual, lone perpetrator of the Central Park Jogger rape. A DNA test (along with Matias's knowledge of the details of the crime) confirmed his guilt, and in 2002, Korey was released from prison. By that time, he had served 12 years.
After Korey was released from prison, then - District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau vacated all of the Central Park Five's charges. Three of the men — Antron, Kevin, and Raymond — filed a lawsuit against the city of New York for malicious prosecution, racial discrimination, and emotional distress. It took more than a decade and the election of a new mayor (Bill de Blasio), but New York finally settled the lawsuit for $41 million. And as the man who had wrongfully served the most time in prison, Korey received the largest portion of the settlement: $12.2 million.
As seen in the Netflix miniseries When They See Us, Korey was tried and sentenced as an adult in the Central Park Jogger case. Jharrel Jerome, the actor who played Korey in When They See Us, is now nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.
In this interview with the Grand Rapids Times, Korey Wise speaks from the vantage point of one who understands and can relate to youth.
GRT: What approach do you use when speaking to young people?
WISE: Kids get bored easily because they are not in their parents era so they have to make their own era. So whatever era that they find themselves clinging to, then that is their era because there is nothing in their hood. I can talk to a kid until I am blue in the face, but I have to meet up to his era to keep his attention.
When you are forty or older, to them it means that you are old and some of them are not really trying to hear what you have to say. There are a lot of branches to a tree, like the NAACP. If they didn't grow up with that then it is hard to get them interested in it. So you have to introduce to them something that they like to bring them into that. In other words they have to grow into it.
GRT: How do you keep young people's attention when you are speaking?
WISE: I come and see a room full of young people, I have to work it out in my own nineties hip hop state of mind, because we are dealing with a rap audience.
When you are dealing with today's rap heads, I let them know off the top of my head what it is and the big topic is self - responsibility. Get off your mom's couch, get of your girlfriends couch. Get you some keys to your own place and become self - sufficient. I came up listening to hip - hop greats that this generation of kids don't know anything about.
GRT: What is the most important thing you want young people to understand?
WISE: Love yourself. Whatever you are doing out here in these streets that has nothing to do with you, slow down. Love yourself and slow down. Don't be in a rush to get to something that you are not really even too familiar with. Slow down and get some advice, because you don't have all of the answers.
It need be, seek some advice before diving into whatever you are about to dive into that may cause you your life.
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