Watch: Rev. Al Sharpton, Central Park Five, full speech at DNC
Reverend Al Sharpton joins the Central Park Five to speak at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
On Thursday, Reverend Al Sharpton introduced the group known as the “Central Park 5” at the Democratic National Convention.
Singing the convention refrain, “We are not going back,” Sharpton brought four of the five men to the stage at Chicago’s United Center.
Here’s who they are and where you can learn more about their case.
Who are the Central Park 5?
Their names are Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam and Korey Wise.
The group of young men, now called the Exonerated 5, were convicted of raping a female jogger in New York City’s Central Park in 1989. They were later acquitted after a convicted murderer’s confession was confirmed by DNA evidence in 2002. The five men sued the city, and in 2014 the city awarded them $41 million.
“Our youth was stolen from us,” Wise said Thursday at the DNC. “We were innocent children, but we spent a total of 41 years in prison.”
CentralPark5: Does the presumption of innocence apply to Trump, which did not apply to the five boys in the case of the joggers in Central Park?
When the case occurred, then-President Donald Trump – then a popular business tycoon – took out $85,000 worth of ads in New York newspapers to promote the reinstatement of the death penalty, saying he hated “those muggers and murderers.”
Even after their exoneration, Trump stuck to his opinion that the five men were guilty.
Previously: 30 years of Trump’s comments on the Central Park Five
Documentary film “The Central Park Five”
The Ken Burns documentary “The Central Park Five” came out in 2012. Here is the synopsis from pbs.org:
THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE tells the story of five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem who were wrongfully convicted of raping a white woman in New York’s Central Park in 1989. Directed and produced by Ken Burns, David McMahon and Sarah Burns, the film traces the case of the Central Park jogger from the perspective of the five teenagers whose lives were turned upside down by this miscarriage of justice.
You can watch the documentary on PBS.
Drama series “When They See Us”
In 2019, the case came back into the public eye when Netflix released the drama series “When They See Us,” created by Ava DuVernay. Here is the description on the streaming platform:
Five Harlem teenagers are plunged into a nightmare when they are falsely accused of a brutal attack in Central Park. Based on the true story.
The series has 16 Emmy nominations and 2 awards: one for actor Jharrel Jerome, who played Wise, and one for Outstanding Cast in a Miniseries, Movie or Special. Stream When They See Us on Netflix.
“We will not return”: Rev. Al Sharpton calls for the introduction of the Exonerated 5 in DNC speech
USA Today reporters James Powel and Rebecca Morin contributed.
