'The Other Wes Moore' Author Knows How Close Another Life Could Have Been

BY DIANE HERBST | WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2010 5:30 AM ET

Writer Wes Moore won a Rhodes Scholarship; the other Wes Moore is serving life in prison. How did two men of the same name, and similar backgrounds, wind up leading such different lives? Tonic talks to the Oprah-lauded author about his new book ? and finds out how each of us can make a difference.

When Wes Moore was 12, cops spotted him and a few other boys spray painting a wall near his home in Bronx, New York. A cop nabbed the boys, cuffed them and threw them in the back of a van. "I vowed to myself at that point I would never do it again," said Moore (at right). "And a week later, I was out there doing it again. It was at this point that my mother said, 'I've got to intervene.'"

Around the same time in Baltimore, another Wes Moore with a drug dealing big brother as a role model lived a life of crime, one that later landed him in prison for life. "I realized the truth is that his story could have been mine, and the tragedy is that my story could have been his," said Moore, talking about his new book The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates. "The largest point of my book is helping us all understand how little separates us all from another life altogether."

Moore, now 31, was sent to military school in Pennsylvania when his mother, Joy, stepped in. Along the way, Moore also benefited from the support of other family members and wise advisers. He ended up a John's Hopkins Phi Betta Kappa graduate and a Rhodes Scholar with model good looks that landed him as one of People magazine's top 50 bachelors. He fought as an officer in Afghanistan in 2005 and 2006, and served as a special assistant to secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. Now married and living in Jersey City, N.J., he works for Citigroup in global technology and alternative investments. He was recently invited by Oprah Winfrey to discuss his book on her April 27 show.

The other Wes Moore (at left), 34, is serving a life sentence without parole in Maryland's Jessup Correctional Institute's maximum-security unit. In 2000, he played a part in a botched robbery that resulted in the death of an off-duty Baltimore police officer and father of five. The trigger-man was Moore's half-brother, Tony.

At the time of the murder, the author had just received word he had been awarded the Rhodes Scholarship, and was studying in South Africa. "My mother called me and said, 'I have something crazy to tell you, there are wanted posters all over the neighborhood, my neighborhood, for someone for the murder of a police officer whose name is also Wes Moore," said Moore. "And that's when I first learned about [the other] Wes Moore."

On Decem ber 11, 2000, The Bal ti more Sun ran an arti cle about how Moore, despite his trou bled child hood, had just received The Rhodes Schol ar ship. At the same time, The Sun was run ning sto ries ? even tu ally more than 100 in all ? about four African-American men who were arrested for the 2000 murder.

"And the more I learned about him through articles [that appeared in The Baltimore Sun], I saw how much we had in common, aside from our name," Moore continued. "We both came from single-parent households, we both had trouble in school and in our neighborhoods growing up, we were both around the same age, and that's what triggered me to learn more about the other Wes Moore.

"I wanted to know how it happened. How do two kids who have similar backgrounds end up in two completely different places," he said. "I was heading off to England on a Rhodes Scholarship and he's getting ready to spend the rest of his life in a maximum security prison. That's why I wanted to learn more and that's why it haunted me."

Moore?s life and career has certainly been blessed but it could have ended up differently, which is why he dedicates his time to helping others be successful in life. He is passionate about supporting US veterans and examining the roles education, mentoring and public service play in the lives of American youth. He serves on the board of the Iraq Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) and founded an organization called STAND! through Johns Hopkins University that works with Baltimore youth in the criminal justice system.

For his national book tour, Moore is partnering with three non profits: IAVA, the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship and 100 Black Men of America (whose Eagle Academy high school students he addressed on May 5; below, right). Moore's goal is to high light these three organizations and the con tri?bu tions they are mak ing to the lives of stu dents, law enforce ment and mil i tary vet er ans and our com mu?nities. What's more, two orga ni za tions will receive 10 percent of the book's pro ceeds for the life of the book. One, the US Dream Academy, focuses on cre at ing oppor tu ni ties for chil dren who have one or both par ents incar cer ated. The other, City Year, unites young peo ple of all back grounds for a year of full-time ser vice, giv ing them the skills and oppor tu ni ties to change the world.

The intention of the book is not only an exploration of the why, but a primer on how to help other Wes Moores. "How we can affect the lives of people. How we can make our communities better," explained Moore, whose book includes an extensive, 30-page list of organizations where readers can help. "I hope people use this book as a guide for us to shape our impacts on the lives of others."



The Other Wes Moore began upon the author's return to the states after studying in Oxford for the Rhodes. Compelled by curiosity, he wrote the other Wes Moore a note and a month later received a letter from Jessup. "I was surprised that he wrote, I was surprised at how honest and transparent he was, I was surprised at how intelligent he was after reading the letter and getting a better understanding of who he was," said Moore. "And one letter turned to dozens of letters. And those dozens of letters turned into dozens of visits."

Through over 200 hours of interviews in the last five years with the other Wes Moore as well as friends and family of both Wes Moores, the author produced his gripping account of their similar yet jarringly different lives. A sad similarity is their growing up fatherless, and the pain it caused. Moore's father, a radio and television journalist, died at the age of 34 when the author was just three and living in Southern Maryland. The other Wes Moore never had his father in his life.

"Wes said to me in one of our conversations: 'Your father wasn't there because he couldn't be. My father wasn't there because he chose not to be,'" said Wes. "It is a really interesting point. And the hole we know boys feel growing up without their fathers, you find kids will spend so much time and energy trying to fill that hole, and unfortunately kids look to very dangerous ways of filling it. That void can not be overstated and [neither can] the importance of kids having loving parents and guardians because they will help shape decisions made later on."

And now, due to the other Wes Moore, the five children of the slain police officer don't have a father, and neither do the other Wes Moore's four children and Tony Moore's three. "It goes to show," said Moore, "how one decision can impact dozens and dozens of lives."

Wes Moore on ?The Other Wes Moore?

JC resident?s bestseller explores two men with same name, different paths

by Ricardo Kaulessar
Reporter Staff Writer

Right now, a Jersey City resident named Wes Moore has a successful job working at Citigroup in their global markets division. He has been a Rhodes Scholar, a captain in the U.S. Army, a White House Fellow, and has spoken at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. He is also the author of a new book, ?The Other Wes Moore? (Spiegel and Grau, April, 2010) that debuted on the New York Times Bestseller List last month at number 5 for nonfiction.

The ?other? Wes Moore, as referred to in the title, is serving a life sentence without parole at the Jessup Correctional Institution in central Maryland in connection with the 2000 murder of an off-duty Baltimore police officer.

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?After he finished reading, he told me how impressed he was by how I got the facts right.? ? Wes Moore
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So how did two men ? both of whom were born in Baltimore (albeit three years apart) and raised in single-parent households ? have such different paths?

Moore, 31, explores this in his first book, as well as the convergence of their paths and the realization of how both men could have had the other?s life.

?The chilling truth is that Wes?s story could have been mine; the tragedy is that my story could have been his,? Moore writes in the epilogue of the book.

Moore in an interview last week said he was ?thankful? that the book has resonated not just with African-Americans or even with people who had upbringings similar to his and the other Wes.

?I am thankful that people who are reading the book understand the point to the book,? said Moore, ?that this book is about much more than two kids, that it is much more than one neighborhood; it is about all of us.?

Moore continued, ?It is the choices we make in our lives, and the people who help us make those choices.?

Moore is on a book tour that takes him this week to Atlanta, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. When he is not traveling, he lives with his wife Dawn at their home in the Port Liberte community on the Jersey City waterfront.

Seeing himself in the other

Moore first encountered the other Wes in 2000. It was in an edition of his hometown Baltimore Sun newspaper where there was a short article about himself ? then a graduate of the local institution, Johns Hopkins University ? being named a Rhodes Scholar, a prestigious, international award given to those who pursue postgraduate studies at the University of Oxford in England.

The newspaper was also running an article about the death of Bruce Prothero, an off-duty Baltimore police officer who was killed while trying to stop some robbers of the jewelry store where he worked, and about the four men who responsible for his death.

One of them was also named Wes Moore.

After earning a Rhodes Scholarship, the author Wes Moore went on to Oxford, where he earned a degree in international relations. Yet the story of his ?doppelganger? never left him.

?Two years after I returned from Oxford, I was still thinking about the story. I couldn?t let it go,? Moore writes in the book. ?If you?d asked me why, I couldn?t have told you exactly.?

Whatever the reason, Moore started a correspondence with the other Moore, and learned a lot about him that suggested some eerie parallels.

Eerie parallels

Both lost their fathers at early ages. Wes the writer saw his father collapse in front of him, while Wes the prisoner hardly saw his father at all. Both also moved around with their families, whether in different areas of one town or to different cities. And both began to get into trouble at an early age.

But the author Moore found salvation after his mother enrolled him in a Pennsylvania military school, which began him on the path that he continues to take. The other Moore never had that fortune, and drifted into a life of crime.

So what did the prisoner Moore think of the book about their similar, yet radically different existences?

?After he finished reading, he told me how impressed he was by how I got the facts right,?

Moore said. ?The other reaction he had, after reading the book, was he was amazed at how little he has done with his life ? which was tough to hear.?

To learn more about the book, http: the otherwesmoore.com.

Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.