Yusef Salaam from Central Park 5: Donald Trump “wanted us dead”
New York City Council member and Central Park 5 member Yusef Salaam spoke on the fourth night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
The “Central Park Five,” later known as the “Exonerated Five,” will speak at the Democratic Party Convention in Chicago on Thursday.
The group of black and Latino men were still teenagers over 30 years ago when they were convicted of the brutal attack and rape of a white jogger in Central Park in Manhattan, New York City.
The high-profile case attracted national attention, with New York City authorities being accused of being “too soft on crime” and allowing lawlessness to continue in the park after police arrested several people for assault in the park that evening.
Just over a week after the jogger was attacked, Donald Trump, then a New York real estate magnate, took out full-page ads in New York newspapers calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty for murder. Although the jogger barely survived the attack, Trump said he was motivated to take out the ad after the attack.
“I want to hate these robbers and murderers,” Trump wrote. “They should be made to suffer, and if they kill, they should be executed for their crimes.”
After a serial rapist confessed to attacking the jogger, the Central Park Five’s convictions were overturned in 2002. The case subsequently became an example of ethnic profiling, discrimination and inequality in the justice system and the media.
Who are the “Central Park Five”?
Six teenagers were originally charged in the attack, but charges against Steven Lopez were dropped after Lopez pleaded guilty to another attack.
The remaining five – Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise – were convicted of these crimes and spent between 7 and 13 years in prison.
After their rehabilitation, most of the men became activists. All but McCray spoke at the DNC on Thursday, along with longtime activist and Reverend Al Sharpton. Salaam was elected to the New York City Council last year.
What happened on the night of the attack?
On April 19, 1989, at around 9 p.m., dozens of youths carried out several attacks, assaults and robberies on visitors to the park.
A 28-year-old woman was knocked down while jogging and dragged nearly 100 meters from the road, brutally attacked and raped. At around 1:30 a.m., the woman was found tied up in a shallow ravine.
The first police officer to see her said: “She was beaten as badly as I have ever seen anyone beaten. She looked like she had been tortured.”
Who was arrested and made a confession?
Police arrested six teenagers in connection with the attack, although their DNA did not match DNA from the crime scene. Instead, the results were “inconclusive,” police said.
Lopez denied knowing anything about the jogger, but named the other five people as possible participants.
The boys, aged between 14 and 16, confessed to being involved in the attack but denied having anything to do with the sexual assault. Within two weeks, each of the boys retracted their confession, saying they had been pressured by police who had promised them they would go home.
In 2014, the Exonerated Five reached a $41 million settlement with the City of New York in a federal case.
Trials lead to convictions
There was one trial for McCray, Salaam and Santana, while a second trial for Richardson and Wise took place.
McCray, Salaam and Santana were acquitted of attempted murder, but were convicted of assault and rape of the jogger and assault and robbery of a jogger.
Richardson was the only one convicted of the attempted murder of the jogger, as well as sodomy and battery against her. Wise was acquitted of rape and attempted murder, but was found guilty of lesser charges of assault after he said he tied up and groped the jogger. They were also convicted of charges related to a second male jogger.
“I consider this legal lynching as a test from my God Allah,” Salaam said at his verdict. “I and many others know that I told the truth. I would never disrespect my own religion by lying,” and he urged the judge to “give me the maximum sentence” because “sooner or later the truth will come out.”
After the verdict was announced, Wise shouted at the prosecutor: “You will pay for this. Jesus will get you. You made this up.”
While in custody, the five maintained their innocence. Santana was released in 1995, McCray in 1996, and Salaam and Richardson in 1997. Wise was released in August 2002.
How was the real attacker caught?
While incarcerated in an upstate New York prison, Wise met Matias Reyes, who confessed to raping the jogger. Wise informed a correctional officer.
Reyes, who was 17 at the time of the attack, confessed to the assault and rape of the jogger in 2002. He said he acted alone and his DNA matched, authorities said. He also admitted to raping four women and killing one, and was stopped at the home of the fifth woman in the summer of 1989 when he robbed her. He was sentenced to 33½ years to life in prison.
When did the Central Park Five become the Exonerated Five?
Due to the statute of limitations in New York, Reyes was not charged, but this led to the vindication of the Central Park Five.
The New York State Supreme Court overturned the convictions on December 19, 2002. The defendants were also removed from the state sex offender registry and were no longer required to report to authorities in person every three months.
What has Trump said since then?
A defense attorney in the case later said he felt the jury had been influenced by Trump’s 1989 ads. Trump commented on the 2014 settlement in an opinion piece for the New York Daily News.
He said the settlement was “a disgrace” and the men were likely guilty. “A settlement does not mean innocence,” Trump said. “Talk to the investigators on the case and try to hear the facts. These young men do not exactly have the past of angels.”
During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump claimed that the Exonerated Five were still guilty. US Senator John McCain criticized Trump at the time, saying that Trump’s answers were “outrageous statements about the innocent men in this case.” He cited this as one of the reasons for withdrawing his support for Trump.
In 2019, Trump said he would not apologize and said the Exonerated Five had “admitted their guilt.”
