Four members of the exonerated group known as the Central Park Five spoke at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday, expressing their concerns about the potential ramifications of a second Donald Trump presidency. Korey Wise, one of the exonerated individuals, recounted their wrongful conviction for a crime they did not commit, saying, “Our youth was stolen from us,” and detailed their experiences facing threats and hostility from the public during their trial due to Trump’s previous comments.
The Central Park Five, consisting of five Black and Latino teenagers, were wrongfully arrested in 1989 after a jogger was found brutally attacked in Central Park. Yusef Salaam, another member of the group, shared how law enforcement employed aggressive tactics, such as denying the teens food and sleep, to extract false confessions from them under duress. Despite the lack of evidence tying them to the crime and their eventual recantation of confessions, they were convicted and spent years in prison.
During the trial, Donald Trump, a prominent New York real estate figure at the time, took out full-page ads in several newspapers calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty for those accused. He stated in those ads that he wanted “to hate these muggers and murderers” and insisted that they must serve as examples for others.
It was not until 2002 that DNA evidence exonerated the Central Park Five, leading to the acknowledgment of their innocence and a subsequent settlement of $41 million with New York City in 2014. Salaam, who is now a Democratic council member, noted that Trump has never apologized for his previous statements about them and has continued to question their innocence even years later.
At the Democratic convention, Salaam and Wise appeared alongside Raymond Santana and Kevin Richardson, other exonerated members. Speaking out against Trump, Salaam highlighted that the former president still adheres to his original assertions of guilt, saying, “He has never changed and he never will.”
This event was not the first time Salaam has voiced his concerns about Trump’s influence. He previously expressed grave concerns during the 2016 campaign regarding Trump’s unabashed stance against the Central Park Five, which he described as rooted in racism.
On Thursday, Salaam called on the audience to support Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz in the upcoming election, emphasizing the importance of awareness and action against the injustices the group faced.