I just saw a documentary film on The Central Park Five and I must say, it’s one of the most heart wrenching things I’ve ever watched, I write this feeling so sad and angry too. So let me briefly tell you what exactly the Central Park Five is about.
On April 19, 1989, a jogger named Trisha Meili was attacked in Central Park, she was assaulted, raped and stabbed. Trisha was found hours after the incident with a fractured skull, barely alive. So the question was, who did this to Trisha?
Taking a look at what happened before then, about 30 black teenagers were at Central Park that night and there were a lot of assaults on passersby, a homeless man and some cyclists. Some of these teens were hauling stones, robbing and beating up random people. Police were dispatched to the area and a couple of boys were arrested. By the next morning, five boys- four blacks and one Hispanic -Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam and Korey Wise all between the ages of fourteen to sixteen were in police custody.
Three of these boys were arrested that very night based on the multiple assaults despite although they repeatedly told the offices they didn’t do anything and were about to be released to their parents when Trisha’s body was found in Central Park so guess what?of course, they were detained. The boys were made to go through vigorous interrogation for fourteen to thirty hours with no water, no food, no sleep, again, they were just between the ages of fourteen to sixteen. Watching the men talk about what they went through was really disheartening. The police practically cooked up stories and made them confess. They were young, tired, innocent but coerced into false confessions.
Although being minors, their names were not supposed to be released to the public but that policy was discarded and their names and pictures were all over the place, people saying all sorts of things about them. It was a part of New York where crime was a part of the everyday occurrence and everybody was glad the perpetrators of Trisha’s assault were caught only that it wasn’t the case. The boys were victims of racial discrimination, the confessions were actually forced from their mouths because since it was a white woman who was attacked, it had to be some kids from the minority groups right? despite the fact that the DNA test did not find any of the boy’s at the scene of the crime, it was blatantly ignored and they were charged to court and sent to jail even after retracting their statements, not until Matias Reyes who was already serving a life imprisonment term confessed he actually committed the crime and the boys had nothing to do with it, to think some people actually voted for the death sentence against this children!
I’m not trying to come of as perfect in any way, far from it,but before we actually stones at the state of New York in 1989, how many times have we judged people without actually knowing the reasons behind their actions? How many times have we let physical appearances determine how we treat others? How many times have we blamed others for something they knew absolutely nothing about? My point here, before we try to judge others and point fingers at others, we’ll remember the Central Park Five and think twice before coming to conclusions.
Thanks for reading and do well to comments your thoughts too!
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They don’t.. Thanks
Nice one. I’m impressed with your improvement.
Thanks mama