Four members of the so-called Central Park Five were introduced at the Democratic Convention by Rev. Al Sharpton on Thursday, who brought her to the stage after saying: Donald Trump “a fellow New Yorker I have known for 40 years” only once during this time “took a position on racial issues.”
“He spent a small fortune on full-page ads calling for the execution of five innocent young teenagers,” Sharpton said.
“Our youth was stolen from us,” said Korey Wise, one of the five acquitted. “Every day we entered the courtroom, we were yelled at and threatened because of Donald Trump. He spent $85,000 on a full-page ad in the New York Times calling for our execution. We were innocent children. But we spent a total of 41 years in prison.”
The Central Park Five were a group of black and Latino teenagers who were arrested and charged with the rape and assault of a white jogger, Trisha Meili, in Central Park in 1989. Trump bought the ad shortly after the attack – it called on New York to “reinstate the death penalty.” The five teens were wrongfully convicted in 1990 and acquitted when DNA evidence was matched to another man who confessed to the attack. Their convictions were overturned in 2002.
Yussef Salaamnow a New York City Councilor, said Trump wanted him and the other four men, who were teenagers at the time of the case, dead.
“45 wanted us to die,” he said of Trump, the 45th president.
Despite the DNA evidence and the confession, Trump has said he will not apologize for the comments he made over 30 years ago. In 2019, when he was president, he was questioned at the White House about the ads he had purchased, according to the New York Times.
“There are people on both sides,” he said. “They have admitted their guilt.”
According to the Times, he also said: “Some prosecutors say the city should never have settled this case – so let’s leave it at that.”
“This man believes hate is the driving force in America. That’s not the case,” Salaam said. “We have the constitutional right to vote, it’s even a human right. So let’s use it. I want you to walk with us. I want you to march with us. I want you to vote with us.”
