{"id":2151,"date":"2020-02-25T07:52:07","date_gmt":"2020-02-25T11:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/?p=2151"},"modified":"2026-07-13T22:24:58","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T02:24:58","slug":"eldest-member-of-the-exonerated-five-shares-journey-at-umes-during-black-history-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/eldest-member-of-the-exonerated-five-shares-journey-at-umes-during-black-history-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Eldest member of the Exonerated Five shares journey at UMES during Black History Month"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Wise photographed outside of J.T. Williams Hall. Photo: Tahja Cropper<\/strong>

<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Life Lessons & Life Blessings: Korey Wise urges youth to \u201cListen to your first voice\u201d<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday, February 25, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s Ella Fitzgerald Center for the Performing Arts held over 1,000 people who sat in piercing silence as Korey Wise of the Exonerated Five shared his painful and triumphant journey from wrongfully convicted child to exoneree with an Emmy-winning story on Feb. 20. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the age of 16, Wise was one of five New York City teens wrongfully accused and convicted of the 1989 rape of a white female jogger in Central Park. He was the only teen sentenced as an adult to serve five to 15 years in prison. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wise, a criminal justice reform advocate, visited the historically black university in Princess Anne, Md. as the Black History Month guest speaker for the event titled \u201cLife After Injustice: A Conversation with Korey Wise.\u201d Following a student’s introduction, the night began with Wise’s surprise entrance as he emerged from the audience although they were expecting him to make a stage wing entrance. \u201cI have to feel their energy,\u201d he said. Previously, he had been sitting among the crowd during a soulful rendition of \u201cLift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,\u201d the Black National Anthem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a once in a lifetime event. His story is true. Him here at an HBCU, we need more stuff like this,\u201d Daronn Wright, an attendee, told local media<\/a> in anticipation of Wise’s message. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the moderated conversation, Wise responded to questions that were submitted by the audience. He began by thanking Matias Reyes, the culprit of the near fatal attack, whose confession removed Wise from nearly 14 years of daily torment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf he never said nothing to me, my five to 15 would have turned into 15 to Life,\u201d said Wise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo: Luis Garcia<\/strong>

<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The audience included local community groups, schools, attendees from Maryland’s Department of Juvenile Services, Salisbury University, and Wor-Wic Community College. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social media overflowed with messages of gratitude and excitement for the opportunity to hear from Wise. \u201c2.20.20 will go down in the books as one of the best,\u201d said Dom Scott. \u201cI was so hyped that my question was chosen to ask Korey Wise,\u201d said Talonda Brown. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question was \u201cwhat would you say to your 16-year-old self?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cListen to your first voice. Not your second voice, not your third voice. Listen to your first voice,\u201d Wise answered urging the youth in attendance to be careful about decision making and knowing your friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The anticipation of Wise’s next word was relieved at times by his good nature and humor especially as he credited ’90s hip-hop with helping him cope with his experience. \u201cReal ’90s hip-hop, I just love it,\u201d he said. \u201cNo mumble rap.\u201d When asked about how the world can help him with healing, the 47-year-old jokingly responded \u201cI need some money!\u201d \u201cNo, no. Love,\u201d he said. \u201cLove is always good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the injustice he has survived, he doesn’t regret being a \u201cgood friend.\u201d \u201cLife became my college,\u201d he said regarding the college experience he didn’t get to have. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, moving forward, Wise plans to leave a legacy. \u201cI guess it’s about time to put forth some fruits of life, my own offspring,\u201d said Wise, who finds himself being revered as \u201can uncle to millions. \u201d The Harlem native’s visit to UMES was nine months in the making. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was an honor and privilege to welcome Wise to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and organize his visit.  The following departments contributed to making the event possible: ATOD, Campus Life, Dept. of Criminal Justice, Dept. of Social Sciences, Institutional Advancement, Residence Life, and the UMES Foundation, Inc. Individual support for the event came from Mr. Michael Byrd, Mr. Aaron Kane, Mr. Sewell Feddiman Jr., Mr. Marvin Jones Sr. and Cooper & Humbles Funeral Co., Inc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was Mr. Wise’s first visit to the Eastern Shore. He described his experience during the UMES Black History Month event as \u201cbeautiful.\u201d \u201cI had fun and my audience had fun,\u201d he said. His story is chronicled in the Ava DuVernay-directed series \u201cWhen They See Us\u201d on Netflix.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Tahja Cropper<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Life Lessons & Life Blessings: Korey Wise urges youth to \u201cListen to your first voice\u201d Tuesday, February 25, 2020 The University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s Ella Fitzgerald Center for the Performing Arts held over 1,000 people who sat in piercing silence as Korey Wise of the Exonerated Five shared his painful and triumphant journey from…Read more Eldest member of the Exonerated Five shares journey at UMES during Black History Month<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2152,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[103],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-2151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2151"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=2151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}