Speaker 1: Welcome back to our mini series Wrongful Conviction with Jason
Speaker 1: Flam In the time of COVID. You know, COVID nineteen
Speaker 1: has wrecked havoc across the globe. Countless lives have already
Speaker 1: been lost this unprecedented worldwide economic devastation, and the Internet
Speaker 1: is full of misinformation that has so many people in
Speaker 1: disagreement about what is real and what's the best path
Speaker 1: back to normalcy and why does so many plans seem
Speaker 1: to involve callously risking or even losing so many more lives.
Speaker 1: All of this while we're living with the restricted movement, isolation,
Speaker 1: and economic anxiety, to say the least, with so many
Speaker 1: ethical and philosophical questions looming in the zeitgeist, I can't
Speaker 1: think of a better member of our wrongfully convicted community
Speaker 1: to guide us through this tough time. So this week
Speaker 1: we'll talk to a man, along with four other young
Speaker 1: teenage boys, was vilified and demonized in the media. Donald
Speaker 1: Trump infamously and wrongly took out full page ads in
Speaker 1: the newspaper back then to call for the reinstatement of
Speaker 1: the death penalty just so these kids could be executed
Speaker 1: for a crime they didn't commit. They were barely teenagers
Speaker 1: when they were lied to by authorities and pitted against
Speaker 1: each other to give false confessions, and ultimately they were
Speaker 1: sentenced to many long years behind bars, only to have
Speaker 1: about a decade later, the man who committed the horrific
Speaker 1: crime at the center of the media and law enforcement circus,
Speaker 1: Matthias Reis, confess, thereby clearing the names once and for
Speaker 1: all up to the Central Park five, now known as
Speaker 1: the Exonerated five. Now, he tells us about how community
Speaker 1: living in his mind, doing things that add value to
Speaker 1: his life and the life of others, Realizing his purpose
Speaker 1: through the pain, and his underlying faith were and are
Speaker 1: the keys to his survival. You can hear his story
Speaker 1: of triumph over tragedy in episode eight of season six,
Speaker 1: as well as in the interview with one of his
Speaker 1: co defendants, Raymond Santana, in the very first episode of
Speaker 1: season one of this podcast. His story is told in
Speaker 1: the Netflix documentary series When They See Us, and he's
Speaker 1: the author of Words of a Man as well as
Speaker 1: being a prolific public speaker. I'm very proud to call
Speaker 1: him my friend. Dr Yusuf Salam. I'm coping in the
Speaker 1: time of COVID. Today we have a doctor in the house,
Speaker 1: um convicted man named Dr Yusuf Salam and uh, well,
Speaker 1: welcome back. Oh, it is absolutely a pleasure to think
Speaker 1: to having me again. Well, it's been a whirlwind since
Speaker 1: we last spoke, um, you know, aside from the world
Speaker 1: going completely haywire and this um you know, coronavirus taking
Speaker 1: over the news and our consciousness and how are you
Speaker 1: and your family doing right now? Everybody is actually okay,
Speaker 1: So we're we're We're in different places in the country,
Speaker 1: of course. Uh, some in the south, some of the
Speaker 1: West coast, Uh, a lot in New York where the
Speaker 1: epicenter is. Hopefully things are beginning to subside a bit.
Speaker 1: I've definitely lost some people that I know. It's a
Speaker 1: very scary time as well. Yeah, but we just got
Speaker 1: to hold on to the faith that we have so
Speaker 1: that we know that we won't leave here until our
Speaker 1: mission is complete. And I think that that's the most
Speaker 1: important thing. And speaking of your mission, since you appeared
Speaker 1: on the show, of course, the incredible documentary about the
Speaker 1: Central Park five When They See Us was released great
Speaker 1: critical acclaim as well as too, I think a wonderful
Speaker 1: response from the audience. So, how has that changed your
Speaker 1: your life? If it has, you know, it's been a
Speaker 1: dramatic upshift in the attention that we have and also
Speaker 1: the platform that we have in the world in sense
Speaker 1: of global recognition, and people always reach out to us
Speaker 1: UM for support. It's been great to find purpose through
Speaker 1: the pain. Since the movie has been made. You look
Speaker 1: at our social media, for one, we went from probably
Speaker 1: under ten thousand followers all of us too, over followers
Speaker 1: for most of us. And of course you look at
Speaker 1: Corey Wise is following and he's over five thousand people.
Speaker 1: It's tremendous that that reaches is great and it's a
Speaker 1: blessing for us, of course, because we do have something
Speaker 1: to say, We do have something to share, you know,
Speaker 1: especially when it comes to you know, human rights as
Speaker 1: it relates to prisoners, and you know, especially now in
Speaker 1: the age of COVID nineteen as it relates to prisoners
Speaker 1: as well. And have you in touch with the other
Speaker 1: guys and how are they holding up during this crisis. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we've been in touch. Everybody's holding up as best they can. UM.
Speaker 1: I know Raymond's fiance's father have went through about of COVID.
Speaker 1: The team came out on the other end, and and
Speaker 1: and that's a that's always a great thing to have survived,
Speaker 1: you know. Just a side note, Raymond's newfound love and
Speaker 1: life is encouraging. You Just look at the peace and
Speaker 1: happiness in his face. Oh yeah, I see him on
Speaker 1: Instagram and he looks like, um, he's on top of
Speaker 1: the world. You know, he's got that. It looks like
Speaker 1: he's in love and it makes me very happy, you know, yes, indeed.
Speaker 1: So I want to talk about the current situation because
Speaker 1: people are experiencing this crisis in different ways. Um, the
Speaker 1: people who are sheltering at home, who are quarantining. Some
Speaker 1: have large families, some are all alone. Some are in
Speaker 1: very small apartments or houses. Uh, they're not used to this.
Speaker 1: It's very frustrating for them. Um, but you've been through hell,
Speaker 1: like you've literally been to hell as a young teenage
Speaker 1: recently child. You were wrongly convicted and thrust into an
Speaker 1: environment that was cramped, dirty, hostile, always dangerous, violent, But
Speaker 1: somehow or other, you persevered. And I believe that there
Speaker 1: are lessons that you can share with us. I'm hoping
Speaker 1: that can help everyone, including me, to you know, work
Speaker 1: through this. You know, indefinite period of time that we're
Speaker 1: all stuck in together and you know, and come out better.
Speaker 1: I definitely can appreciate that. You Know, what I did
Speaker 1: to maintain my sanity was I began to live in
Speaker 1: my mind more than in what was going on around me,
Speaker 1: and this allowed my mind to remain free as opposed
Speaker 1: to me being completely in bondage. There was a lot
Speaker 1: of meditation that I was involved in. There was a
Speaker 1: lot of planning on paper, There was a lot of visualizing.
Speaker 1: You know. One of the things that we have to
Speaker 1: all come to grips with is that once we come
Speaker 1: out of this, it is going to be a brand
Speaker 1: new world. It's not that we were the only ones
Speaker 1: that had um experienced this, right, This is a global phenomenon.
Speaker 1: And so as a result of that, I think it's
Speaker 1: important that we look at things like how do we
Speaker 1: keep our minds mentally exercised? And I think that that's
Speaker 1: by reading books, of course, I think that's by listening
Speaker 1: to audible and things of that nature. Don't just pass
Speaker 1: the time doing nothing, you know, I was thinking about
Speaker 1: all of the essential workers and essential places that they
Speaker 1: kept saying, we're open, and of course we had the
Speaker 1: liquor stores. And you know, for those people that partake,
Speaker 1: I'm not necessarily down on them or saying anything bad
Speaker 1: about them, but we can't. Just as I would say,
Speaker 1: when I first won my lawsuit, they ran up to
Speaker 1: me and said, hey, what are you gonna do now?
Speaker 1: And I said, well, I'm not going to be sitting
Speaker 1: on a beach sipping mind tizes this is now allowing
Speaker 1: me to jump fully into the fight to be a
Speaker 1: full participant in the freedom, justice, and the humanity of
Speaker 1: us as a people. And a lot of that happens
Speaker 1: in your mind. It happens as you plan your work,
Speaker 1: as you realize that you are born on purpose and
Speaker 1: you have value and you have something to give, and
Speaker 1: we just have to take that faith and begin to
Speaker 1: massage it into our every day. Whether that means that
Speaker 1: we're going to just start exercising, if that just means
Speaker 1: one set up a day we are better than we
Speaker 1: were yesterday, because that's how it is. That's how we
Speaker 1: have to put one front in front of the other.
Speaker 1: We have to live in our future, because if I
Speaker 1: didn't live in my future, I could have never become
Speaker 1: the person that I was to become. I could have
Speaker 1: never had that hope that one day I'll be out
Speaker 1: of here and I'll be a free person, and the
Speaker 1: truth is going to come out and I'll be able
Speaker 1: to utilize my story to transform the world. I'm still
Speaker 1: trying to understand how you went from a kid with
Speaker 1: hopes and dreams, going to the park, playing ball, doing
Speaker 1: whatever it is that kids do, and one day, all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, you're one of the most hated people.
Speaker 1: And then moreover, you end up in this prison cell.
Speaker 1: Everything overnight changed for you and you had to really
Speaker 1: become a man overnight in a situation no child should
Speaker 1: ever find themselves in. And you talk about meditation and
Speaker 1: books and things like that, but let's go back to
Speaker 1: the first day you're in this cell. How did you
Speaker 1: find that inner strength, that that extra gear that allowed
Speaker 1: you to become a meditator that allowed you to read
Speaker 1: in the amidst all the chaos and the noise and
Speaker 1: things like that. Well, I gotta tell you, it wasn't
Speaker 1: necessarily just me. It was definitely a community. It was
Speaker 1: that that that community that raises the child, Those people
Speaker 1: that I had in my circle that would write me
Speaker 1: and encourage me. You it was those letters from my
Speaker 1: grandmother that would be addressed to this person named Master
Speaker 1: use of Salam. My grandmother was trying to supercharge me.
Speaker 1: She was trying to get me to think differently. She
Speaker 1: was telling me, by me reading these words Master use
Speaker 1: of Salam, that I'm a master of my fate. You know,
Speaker 1: people telling me to be still and listen, people telling
Speaker 1: me too, utilize this time to try to find out
Speaker 1: the why, because once you find the why, you can
Speaker 1: live anyhow, as Niici says. And I think part of
Speaker 1: that philosophical reality began to take shape when I was
Speaker 1: asked the question early on in my prison bed six
Speaker 1: months in. The officer walks up to me after he's
Speaker 1: been observing me for only this time, and he had
Speaker 1: one question for me. His question was who are you?
Speaker 1: And I'm thinking that I understand what this question means,
Speaker 1: and I say, I'm used of Salam, one of the
Speaker 1: guys that they accused of rape in the Central Park jogger.
Speaker 1: But I didn't do it. And I realized from his
Speaker 1: response that I had answered him incorrectly, because he said
Speaker 1: who are you? And he said no, I know that
Speaker 1: he said, I've been watching you. You're not supposed to
Speaker 1: be here? Why are you here? Who are you? And
Speaker 1: it was like a jump start. It was like a Matrix,
Speaker 1: a Neo Morpheus moment where I'm like, hold on, like
Speaker 1: what am I what? Like I know I'm not guilty
Speaker 1: of this crime, So why am I here? What is
Speaker 1: it that I'm supposed to go through? What is it
Speaker 1: that I'm supposed to grow through? So when I come
Speaker 1: out on the other end, I'll come out of person better,
Speaker 1: stronger for all that I had gone through. And so
Speaker 1: the first day in prison, of course, was fight. How
Speaker 1: do you fight? And so I'm thinking, man that I'm
Speaker 1: hearing the words, I'm hearing people yelling out, I'm hearing
Speaker 1: people telling us that they're gonna kill us. And I
Speaker 1: started shadow boxing. And imagine I was growing up and
Speaker 1: my mother sent me and my sister and brother to
Speaker 1: learn martial arts. There were two top instructors in New
Speaker 1: York City at the time. One was a gentleman named
Speaker 1: Massive Little John Davis. The other one was Dr Moses Powell.
Speaker 1: I happened to be trained by Massive Little John Davis.
Speaker 1: And the way that they trained us, it was rigorous.
Speaker 1: It wasn't you know, okay, we're gonna cut the board,
Speaker 1: and you're gonna punch the board and be surprised that
Speaker 1: you broke the board because we pre cut it. And
Speaker 1: we had to punch boards that had no cuts in it,
Speaker 1: and it hurt our hands. We had to do push
Speaker 1: ups on the ground, We had to spar with people
Speaker 1: who were older than us and bigger than us. And
Speaker 1: it wasn't something that I realized until I got to
Speaker 1: prison that they were training us for real life. They
Speaker 1: were training us to survive, They were training us to
Speaker 1: be our ancestors wildest dreams. To not succumb to the
Speaker 1: pressures is a common known fact in the black and
Speaker 1: brown communities. But people say, oh yeah, we're gonna be
Speaker 1: dead O in jail before we reached the age of one,
Speaker 1: and those of us who became known as the Exonerated
Speaker 1: five did not escape that. And the great thing about
Speaker 1: it is that we were able to take these limits
Speaker 1: that life gave us and make some lemonade out of it.
Speaker 1: Are there any particular books that have helped you, either
Speaker 1: while you're in prison or since you've been out, or
Speaker 1: even now that you're experiencing a very different type of
Speaker 1: lockdown um that you can share with us that you
Speaker 1: think might be helpful to other people. Man, it's it's
Speaker 1: crazy because of course, we are a few days into
Speaker 1: Ramadan and I'm a Muslim, I'm a practicing Muslim, and
Speaker 1: I'm fasting. And what gets me all the time around
Speaker 1: this time of the year is that we have to
Speaker 1: reorient ourselves to our scripture, which is the Karan. And
Speaker 1: I'm saying that because people of faith, even if they're
Speaker 1: not Muslims, can reorient themselves to their scripture, the Torah
Speaker 1: of the Bible, any spiritual book that allows them to
Speaker 1: reconnect with the Creator. My grounding force has always been
Speaker 1: books of scripture. Um. I've read the Bible of to
Speaker 1: Karan and I found tremendous value in that, and I
Speaker 1: read other things besides that. I've read a lot of
Speaker 1: books about the Black experience, and one of one of
Speaker 1: the things I've found is that there's a shift that
Speaker 1: happens when you understand the black experience but couple it
Speaker 1: with humanity. Then you don't get stuck in a way
Speaker 1: that is detrimental because all of us are human beings.
Speaker 1: Once you start going into a one sided reality, it
Speaker 1: begins to become problematic and challenging because we live on
Speaker 1: this planet with the rest of us, you know. I
Speaker 1: try to read books that make sense, you know. Of course,
Speaker 1: The People's History by Howard's In is an important book. UM.
Speaker 1: The Destruction of the Black Civilization. UM. A Chance of
Speaker 1: Williams is another important book. But it all goes back
Speaker 1: to reading. We shouldn't consume our time with just doing
Speaker 1: stuff that doesn't end value to ourselves. UM. You have
Speaker 1: certainly become a I think, a really incredible example of
Speaker 1: what is possible and how to overcome, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: the worst that life can throw at you. It was
Speaker 1: so impactful for me to hear what you're talking about,
Speaker 1: the guard saying who are you? I I learned from
Speaker 1: Deepak Chopra to ask myself the same question. Uh. And
Speaker 1: I learned that, you know, when we normally think of that,
Speaker 1: who are you, I'm a record executive, I'm a podcast host,
Speaker 1: I'm a I'm a father, I'm ay this, I may
Speaker 1: that all everything can be taken away from you, right,
Speaker 1: So what happens when you're stripped of everything? Right? That
Speaker 1: happened to us very very early in our lives. And
Speaker 1: I think when I when I delve into the depths
Speaker 1: of what that means. The horror of it. Right, if
Speaker 1: you think about every child who is born is blessed
Speaker 1: with the ability to be a child, It is blessed
Speaker 1: with the naivety of what life has to offer. The dreaming.
Speaker 1: We all have that that that desire to be something
Speaker 1: in someone and to add value and to be valuable.
Speaker 1: And it may not be as deep as that sounds.
Speaker 1: We want to have a good life, but what happens
Speaker 1: when everything is stripped away from you. There's a prayer
Speaker 1: that Muslims praying in Arabic. It says yak bud wakana study,
Speaker 1: and what it means in English is to God. We're saying,
Speaker 1: you alone do we worship? And you alone do we
Speaker 1: ask for help. Everything that we have been given is
Speaker 1: because of the Creator, and it's it's it's a disservice
Speaker 1: to us when we don't give God or the Creator
Speaker 1: it's due, because then we honor God and then we're
Speaker 1: blessed with more. You know, they always talk about like
Speaker 1: how do you get more money by giving it away?
Speaker 1: You know, it's a concept that is kind of aloof
Speaker 1: from people who don't have money, who need money, But
Speaker 1: it's like how do I give money away like I
Speaker 1: need money, like I need money to survive. But once
Speaker 1: you find out that charity increases your wealth, and it
Speaker 1: increases your spiritual wealth as well, you feel better. And
Speaker 1: especially if you give more than what you thought you
Speaker 1: would have given, it begins to feed you and nourish
Speaker 1: you in a way that you could not have been
Speaker 1: fed or nourished any other way. And I think that
Speaker 1: that's the part that's important. The secret is being able
Speaker 1: to plug back into the source. There's been a challenge
Speaker 1: I think, all along in our lives where we're trying
Speaker 1: to figure out why are we here? What are we
Speaker 1: supposed to do with our lives? And there's those of
Speaker 1: us who have kind of come close to it who
Speaker 1: kind of figured something out. They're using it to push
Speaker 1: forward in life and add value to life and also
Speaker 1: add value to others. And I think that that's the
Speaker 1: part that's important, being able to share your life in
Speaker 1: such a way where it's no longer about you, but
Speaker 1: it's about who else can listen and become enlightened by
Speaker 1: what it is that you've gone through, because if you
Speaker 1: were able to survive it, they can survive it too.
Speaker 1: If I went to prison. And I don't say this
Speaker 1: to impress anyone, but rather to impress upon people that
Speaker 1: if I went to prison and got a college degree,
Speaker 1: we can do anything. People who are looking for a job,
Speaker 1: who are trying to figure out a way out of
Speaker 1: no way, they have time now to use their minds
Speaker 1: in a way that they've never used their minds before
Speaker 1: and create solutions to some of the problems that we have.
Speaker 1: And some of those solutions are going to yield enormous,
Speaker 1: enormous value. And even if that means that you have
Speaker 1: to go back to a normal nine of five, you
Speaker 1: can return to the normal nine of five knowing that
Speaker 1: there's something more valuable that you can contribute if you
Speaker 1: haven't been doing your best. But if you've been doing
Speaker 1: your best, then you know that that's all you can do.
Speaker 1: Once I plug in and say I'm going to do
Speaker 1: my best, I can go into a space that may say, hey,
Speaker 1: we only have a dollar to give you. I'm going
Speaker 1: to give them a two million dollar speech. And it
Speaker 1: helps me. It has value and purpose to me and
Speaker 1: allows me to become better and to show up in
Speaker 1: spaces more plugged in, more dynamic, more willing to serve
Speaker 1: because it's about the service, That's what it's all about.
Speaker 1: I'm with you too. It's interesting. I'm not a religious person,
Speaker 1: but I feel like there is no greater joy than
Speaker 1: in being able to lift somebody else up. You've certainly
Speaker 1: found your gift for doing that, which is awesome and
Speaker 1: and great to see. And I know that it's going
Speaker 1: to have an impact on people in our audience who
Speaker 1: are feeling frustrated. Um. You know, but I have to ask,
Speaker 1: there must have been moments when you felt bitter anger,
Speaker 1: why me type of feeling. Was there a darkest moment
Speaker 1: that that you can recall from from all those many
Speaker 1: years you spent in prison? You know, I think it
Speaker 1: all was dark, and I think that the light that
Speaker 1: I found in the darkness was when I remembered once.
Speaker 1: Once I began to get nervous, then it got more dark.
Speaker 1: But once I remembered that I was going through this,
Speaker 1: or rather I was growing through this, then it all
Speaker 1: made sense. Then I could see the light illuminating more.
Speaker 1: But if I let the darkness consume what I was
Speaker 1: growing through, I would have never been able to survive.
Speaker 1: M You're a father many times over now, and that's
Speaker 1: got to approach particular challenges I would think with people
Speaker 1: going stir crazy in the house, not being able to
Speaker 1: go out to school, and two other things the kids
Speaker 1: are used to doing. So I'm interested in your perspective
Speaker 1: because a lot of other people are going through the
Speaker 1: same thing, and can you share any Is there a
Speaker 1: funny story or or anything else from this experience of
Speaker 1: being stuck at home with the kids, you know, So
Speaker 1: I think the funniest story of being stuck at home
Speaker 1: with the children are finding ways to start, like to
Speaker 1: not go still crazy. I mean, children are all times
Speaker 1: of the day, all times of the night. Um, they're
Speaker 1: doing all kinds of funny, cool things. You know. We
Speaker 1: have these amazing moments all the time where either my
Speaker 1: my eldest story in the house, now who's the oven.
Speaker 1: She's developing her ability to really become a great artist,
Speaker 1: and she's drawing these beautiful pieces of artwork. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's just it blows my mind because of course the
Speaker 1: other children are just maturing and I'm here. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm usually on the road a lot, and I'm usually
Speaker 1: sharing with the rest of the world, and so now
Speaker 1: I have this opportunity to be at home to be
Speaker 1: a father, to be hands on, and to see the
Speaker 1: growth and development that happens with the children all the time.
Speaker 1: And I think that that's something that you don't want
Speaker 1: to miss. There's a value in that that you really
Speaker 1: want to be able to participate in and be able
Speaker 1: to witness um and to see. And then of course
Speaker 1: I have all the children who are in New York,
Speaker 1: UM and to share with them, and and and to
Speaker 1: talk with them mentally, they are on a whole another level.
Speaker 1: I'm still seeing them as my babies, but there are adults.
Speaker 1: They're on the custom of being adults, and of course
Speaker 1: being able to share with them some of my wisdom
Speaker 1: and insights, uh, adds value to what they're going through. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I guess that comes back to something that someone reminds
Speaker 1: me of frequently, which is when I say, oh, I
Speaker 1: need I have to go do something, It's like, no, no,
Speaker 1: you get to go do whatever. You don't have to
Speaker 1: do it, right. So it's really just sometimes changing one
Speaker 1: word and change your whole perspective. And I appreciate you
Speaker 1: reminding me of that. So this is the part of
Speaker 1: the show that our listeners are familiar with and that
Speaker 1: I think they appreciate and enjoyed as much as any
Speaker 1: part of the show. I know I do so um,
Speaker 1: I want to again thank our very special guest today,
Speaker 1: Dr Yusuf Salam. I'd like to turn it over to
Speaker 1: you for what I call words of wisdom. So thanks again.
Speaker 1: I'm going to kick back and just listen to what
Speaker 1: you have to say. Yeah, man, I'm so. I'm just
Speaker 1: on it to be here, on it, to be alive
Speaker 1: and to be able to share. And one of the
Speaker 1: things I want to give people is the the idea
Speaker 1: of never giving up trying to do the best that
Speaker 1: you can, especially now. And and I think what's important
Speaker 1: to reinvent yourself when we show up in this new
Speaker 1: world in the next few months, the next few weeks.
Speaker 1: I think we want to show up our best selves.
Speaker 1: And I want to say that kind of like emphatically.
Speaker 1: If we can put our best foot forward, become our
Speaker 1: best selves, then that's where we can really gain the
Speaker 1: true benefit from life. And that's what it's all about,
Speaker 1: being able to be here and say that we mattered.
Speaker 1: We don't want to leave this world without a trace,
Speaker 1: as my good friend Les Brown says, we want to
Speaker 1: be able to at the end of our lives, be
Speaker 1: able to look back and say every thing that we
Speaker 1: were supposed to do, we were able to do it.
Speaker 1: Every idea that came to our minds, we gave birth
Speaker 1: to it. We don't want to be on our deathbeds
Speaker 1: when all of the hope streams and aspirations are looking
Speaker 1: at us and knowing that they're going to die with
Speaker 1: us because we didn't give it life. The best thing
Speaker 1: that we can do is give life two not only
Speaker 1: things that come to us and the value that we
Speaker 1: can add, but give life and allow our lives to
Speaker 1: show other people how to participate fully in their lives.
Speaker 1: We don't want to be on the sidelines looking at
Speaker 1: other people's lives anymore. We have to participate. Wow. That
Speaker 1: was That was awesome. Um. I really hope you got
Speaker 1: as much out of it as I did, because every
Speaker 1: time I hear Dr Slam speaking the perspective, the grace,
Speaker 1: the optimism of a man who has been to hell
Speaker 1: and back, who was sent to prison too, you know,
Speaker 1: to some of the roughest prisons in the country as
Speaker 1: a young teenager, and who took the opportunity to find
Speaker 1: himself as opposed to collapsing or acting out and emerged stronger, better,
Speaker 1: and now is really just a beacon of light and
Speaker 1: otherwise very dark at the time that we find ourselves in.
Speaker 1: So yeah, dr Usi salam. The only word I can
Speaker 1: think of for you is hero. Now I want to
Speaker 1: end by saying thank you to our first responders, the
Speaker 1: healthcare providers, all the essential workers, cleaning people, everyone who's
Speaker 1: doing their best to help keep our society going. And
Speaker 1: I want to also shout out the people who are
Speaker 1: working in our courts through this difficult time that the
Speaker 1: public defenders, the defense attorneys and others who are you know,
Speaker 1: they're they're going to work and they're putting on their
Speaker 1: mass and their glaves and they're you know, they're out
Speaker 1: there doing their level best. So many who could be
Speaker 1: phoning it in are out there fighting for their clients,
Speaker 1: So props to you as well. In the meantime, I
Speaker 1: hope you've been listening to Lord Ni Rider and Steve
Speaker 1: Drizzen as they enlighten us on their podcast False Confessions.
Speaker 1: They have two more amazing episodes left before the start
Speaker 1: of our new season of Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flam.
Speaker 1: I hope you've taken some of the priceless wisdom from
Speaker 1: our wrongfully convicted community to heart. It all was not
Speaker 1: easily earned. I mean this was the hardest possible way
Speaker 1: they earned this wisdom, these unbelievable people sharing their thoughts.
Speaker 1: This is the last episode of our many series as
Speaker 1: we focus our efforts on the upcoming season. So keep
Speaker 1: staying safe and thank you for joining us for an
Speaker 1: alternative perspective on living in the time of COVID. Don't
Speaker 1: forget to give us a fantastic review wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts. It really helps. And I'm a proud donor
Speaker 1: to the Innocence Project and I really hope you'll join
Speaker 1: me in supporting this very important cause and helping to
Speaker 1: prevent future wrongful convictions. Go to Innocence Project dot org
Speaker 1: to learn how to donate and get involved. I'd like
Speaker 1: to thank our production team, Connor Hall and Kevin Wardis.
Speaker 1: The music in the show is by three time OSCAR
Speaker 1: nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us on
Speaker 1: Instagram at Wrongful Conviction and on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast.
Speaker 1: Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flam is a production of Lava
Speaker 1: for Good Podcasts in association with signal company number one