By Kaffie Sledge, The Columbus Journal-Enquirer (free subscription required), May 1, 2008

Not being able to attend Tuesday's reception, "A Celebration of Freedom," for John White was disappointing. But I learned that after the reception at Columbus Technical College, White would be speaking to a group of former inmates.

It was a group meeting during which only first names are used, and what is said in the room remains in the room.

They were expecting White, so he had their full attention from the moment he stepped into the room, wearing a dark blue suit.

Now, the John White I remember from other interviews was not very talkative. He certainly didn't volunteer any information. But that's not the John White who showed up Tuesday night.

The tension I noticed other times I'd seen him disappeared as he told his story.

"I was arrogant. I was spoiled. I was cocky," he told the 10 men whose rapt attention he held. "I wasn't even worried when I was picked up on a burglary charge because I knew my mother would get me out."

But that didn't happen. While being transported in a police vehicle, officers asked White about the rape of a 74-year-old woman on Aug. 11, 1979, and he smarted off. Police, he said, took that as an admission.

He was not released from jail. He was subsequently identified by the victim in a lineup, found guilty of the rape and sentenced to life in prison.

White's story began on Sept. 21, 1979, when he was arrested and charged with burglary. And it didn't end until 28 years later, when the Georgia Innocence Project discovered DNA evidence that exonerated White and pointed out the man who committed the rape. On Dec. 10, 2007, White was released from Macon State Prison.

White talked about wasted youth and wasted opportunities. After his conviction, he twice violated parole. He said he would have spent his last days behind bars were it not for GIP.

"Are you angry?" a man asked.

"No," White answered. "A mistake was made. Haven't you ever made a mistake?"

For a few moments the men rumbled to each other, "Yes, we've made mistakes, but... Man, I don't know."

Most of them said they would have been angry -- very angry.

White's response was philosophical: What's to be gained by being angry about a situation you are powerless to change? he asked.

"What about money?" someone asked. "How much did the state give you for all that time you were in prison?"

"Nothing," White said.

In fact, Tuesday's reception was also a fundraiser for GIP.

Though I never knew White before his exoneration, his story, which was rewritten by GIP, has renewed my faith in us. Our society often gets by with a multitude of wrongs because we selfishly encourage victims to look forward -- not backward.

But when we were learning to drive, we were taught to always check the rear-view mirror before changing lanes. I think that's what White is doing when talks about that foolish young man who talked his way into prison.