PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Two New York men exonerated in the 1989 Central Park jogger case came to Philadelphia Friday to urge Black voters to turn out for the Nov. 5 election.
Korey Wise and Yusef Salaam began their tour of Philadelphia at Sharon Baptist church telling their powerful story of being falsely accused of a sensational crime — the rape and beating of a woman jogging through Central Park in New York.
Wise was 16 when police officers came to pick up his friend Salaam for questioning in the case. Wise told Salaam he’d go along for moral support and spent the next 13 years of his life in prison.
“He came with me because that’s the kind of friend he’s always been and he was the miracle languishing in prison that the real perpetrator saw him and decided to tell the truth,” Salaam said.
They spent years in prison before DNA evidence exonerated them. But shortly after their arrest, Donald Trump spent $85,000 on newspaper advertisements calling for the death penalty to be reinstated.
Salaam, who now represents Harlem in New York City Council, says he’s taking the story on the road for voter education.
“We were run over by the spike wheels of justice and it was because of what Donald Trump himself did 35 years ago by taking out those ads in New York City’s newspapers,” he said.
Trump has repeatedly defended the ad — most recently during the debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, saying a lot of people agreed with him at the time.
Wise and Salaam arrived by chartered bus with Rev. Al Sharpton, who urged “maximum turnout” in Philadelphia.
“We cannot afford after all we’ve been through, all we’ve fought for with bloodshed, nights in jail and house bombing, to come this far and lose our right to vote to affirmative action — all of that is on the ballot. Since there is a rumor that some black men are being persuaded another way, we’re not telling you who to vote for but we want you to have the information,” Sharpton said.
Pennsylvania is the largest of the swing states, and electoral math holds that high turnout in the solidly Democratic cities can push the state into the blue column.
“I’m hoping to inspire the next generation to be engaged, to participate,” Salaam said. “We have to vote like our lives depend on it.”