Let's start with you telling us who you were in the park with.
I don't know names.
I just... I just got lost.
I'm not supposed to be here.
My hope is that
invites you to think about the overall criminal justice system
and all of the people ensnared within it.
And this series invites people to think about all the millions of cases
that are not dissimilar in many ways from what you'll see in
Every young black male who was in the park last night
is a suspect in the rape of that woman who is fighting for her life right now.
They were 14 to 16 years old, innocent.
They were babies, and the next thing you know, they're in jail.
I can't imagine the trauma that was inflicted on them.
How they dealt with that is... There's no rule book for that.
-Raymond saw you hit her! -Who's Raymond?
The criminal justice system is so broken today...
yesterday, perhaps tomorrow,
that I call it "the criminal system of injustice."
And I call it that because there's two Americas.
There's two different justice systems that are in play.
One where, if you have the complexion for acceptance,
you'll get every chance to be afforded the proper defense.
But if you look like me, if you have skin of a darker hue,
then you will be seen as being guilty and have to prove yourself innocent.
Don't you lie to me!
When They See Us
through the full breadth of the criminal justice system.
In part one, you're dealing with police aggression,
arrest, precinct behavior.
Come on, you wanna take your brother home or not?
-Yes. -'Cause we can keep him.
Officer, I don't wanna be here. I don't wanna be here anymore.
Please sign it. I wanna go home.
OK.
I'm not gonna hurt you, Korey. I am on your side.
It's a war. And the wars that this system doesn't want you to occupy are college.
A college dorm room. They don't want you to occupy a college classroom.
They want you to occupy a prison cell
because that's where the money's at for them.
In part two, you're dealing with the court system and bail.
We almost got the bail money from church, so...
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury...
If you don't have a lawyer who can articulate your innocence,
boy, you're done 'cause the system is trying to prove you guilty,
and if you don't have somebody fighting to counter that, you can't win.
Guilty!
Order!
Being on this set forces you to learn
because common logic would tell you that they would not go to jail
because they didn't do it. But unfortunately,
our criminal justice system lets that happen way too often.
When you incarcerate one person, you incarcerate their whole family.
You do damage to their community, to the culture.
And the more people that are ensnared in this,
you do damage to a whole generation.
Please, Mama. Please come back as much as you can.
Please come back as much as you can.
You're innocent, Korey.
Please, Mama! Please, Mama! Please come see me. Please, Mama!
Part three, you're dealing with juvenile detention and parole,
the life of the formerly incarcerated.
What's your next move?
I wanna go back to school. Maybe teach, I'm not sure.
You have a state license? How you gonna do that when you been incarcerated?
Even when we got exonerated, here we are, exonerees,
and you're just dumped out in society, like, "OK, fend for yourself."
A person who's on parole can be entitled to some type of transition program.
Exonerees don't get that luxury. They just get dropped off,
and it's like, "All right, see you later." So where do I turn?
You end up going back to jail 'cause nobody will hire you
because you're a felon, and so you have to do dirt
in order to feed your family, in order to live, in order to thrive.
Because of that, when you come out, we have to be afraid of inmates.
Like, we've created an environment where we have to be afraid
because we know we're not rehabbing anybody.
And in part four, you're dealing with incarceration.
Let me know if you can do anything for me.
They are survivors.
And there's so many survivors of this American justice system.
In there, they were innocent, they got convicted,
they had to stay in jail, and they survived it.
What do you want people to know about Korey King Wise?
I'm just... I'm a survivor.
I'm just a survivor, that's all. I'm just a survivor.
He's a man who's been through everything.
This is a heartbreaking story in a way that it's true
and too real to even understand.
This is a story that will never die.
This is a jumping-off point to think about larger issues
around the injustice of our current system of "justice."
Something's not right, and we need to somehow fix this system.
Film does have the power to change things.
And as it relates to the prison-industrial complex,
as it relates to the criminal justice system,
and all of the insidious behaviors that are within it,
if we keep talking about it, if we keep telling and showing it
and sharing these stories, I believe that we get to a place
where people will be intolerant of what is happening and demand change.
Once you in the system, it's hard to get out.
After seven and a half years, I came out,
and my thing was I just wanted to prove everybody wrong.
We here. We alive.
Every day, we wake up, and we fighting against the system.
And we're fighting for those younger than us, those who are unfortunate,
those who feel like there's no hope.
We're here... we're here to show you that there is hope.
And we're here to tell you never to give up.
Fight for your freedom, young brothers and sisters.
Fight for your freedom.