Dr.Yusef Salaam

Dr.Yusef Salaam is a motivational speaker & published author. He is one of the Exonerated 5 to speak in Akron, Ohio on December 13, 2019. This event will be held at 610 W. Exchange Street at the COJ Event Center. Sadly in 1989 he was accused of raping and beating a white women who was a jogger in Central Park , also four others were convicted. December 19, 2002 the convictions of the teens was overturned now they are known to be the Exonerated Five. Matia Reyes made a confession about the committed crime the DNA evidence matches Reyes to the 1989 attack that happened in Central Park. Its mind blowing to know Dr.Yusef and the other teens had to experience being arrested and interrogated about a crime they never committed. Legal battles are documented in Netflix series “When they see us” by film makers Ava Duvernay. 

President Barack Obama presented him with a presidential Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr.Yusef loves traveling the world and educating others his main focus is on issues of class, races, the criminal justice system, & legal protections for juveniles human rights. Dreams Academy invited Dr.Yusef to come speak & share his testimony. The executive director of Dreams Academy Brandon Scarborough made a statement “He is going to tell the story. Talk about redemption, being able to come through that situation and really encourage these students. We have about 200-300 students that are coming from all over Ohio to see him”. I personally feel like this would be a great event to attend especially with educating these kids on the important things they need to know in life it’s really amazing.