The Scoop
Yusef Salaam, the New York City Councilman who was wrongly imprisoned as a member of the “Central Park Five,” has been invited to speak at the Democratic National Convention.
According to multiple sources, Democratic officials have been in communication with Salaam, but it’s not yet clear if plans have been locked in. One source familiar with convention planning said Salaam had been invited and that other members of the “Central Park Five” could also potentially join him onstage. Reached by phone, Salaam declined to comment, referring calls to his office. A convention spokesman declined to comment on programming.
Know More
Trump took out newspaper ads in 1989 calling for New York State to bring back the death penalty after the group of Black and Latino teenagers were arrested and accused of raping a woman in Central Park. They were later cleared by DNA evidence and a confession by the perpetrator and the city paid a settlement of over $40 million for their wrongful imprisonment. Since then they have called themselves “The Exonerated Five.”
Trump has never acknowledged their innocence, a subject he was asked about as a candidate in 2016 and as president in 2019. Then-Sen. Kamala Harris wrote an op-ed in 2019 for NBC News urging Trump to watch “When They See Us,” a dramatized mini-series about the “Central Park Five” by director Ava DuVernay, and also calling for reforms to the criminal justice system around young suspects, defendants, and prisoners. The Biden campaign — since inherited by Harris — has highlighted their story as part of its messaging to Black voters this cycle amid polling suggesting Trump is making gains.
Salaam won his City Council seat in 2023, thanks in part to a burst of attention to his campaign after Trump’s own indictment in Manhattan. He offered a one word statement in response: “Karma.”
Notable
- Mike Tyson, a longtime friend of Trump, told Semafor’s Kadia Goba that the “Central Park Five” episode has been a barrier to convincing other Black celebrities to support his campaign. “The only thing they can say is that he’s a racist,” he said. “Central Park Five, other than that, they can’t bring up anything else.”
- Salaam spoke to Semafor’s David Weigel in 2023 about his journey from prison to politics. He contrasted his own experience in the criminal justice system with Trump’s various indictments. “He has the complexion for acceptance; therefore, he should be afforded every right under the law, the right to due process,” he said. “We didn’t get that same treatment.”