'He wanted us dead': Members of exonerated 'Central Park Five' blast Trump at DNC
Members of the Central Park Five — five men who were falsely accused of beating and raping a woman in a New York park when they were youths in the late ’80s — joined Rev. Al Sharpton on stage at the Democratic National Convention Thursday night.
The group members there included Dr. Yusef Salaam, Korey Wise, Raymond Santana and Kevin Richardson. The fifth person, Antron McCray, was not present.
At the time they were accused, Donald Trump calling for the state to reinstate the death penalty.
The boys were charged and convicted — and later exonerated after serving time in prison. But the ads paid for by Trump drew a lot of attention and helped build his celebrity.
“Our youth was stolen from us,” said Korey Wise, who blamed Trump for some of the harsh treatment they received from the public. “He spent $85,000 on an ad ... calling for my execution.”
Salaam, who is now a member of the New York City Council, criticized Donald Trump, saying the former president wanted the five to be “unalive, he wanted us dead.”
Criticizing Trump for maintaining that stance despite scientific evidence, Salaam said, Trump has “never changed and he never will.”
“That man thinks that hate is the animating force in America. It is not,” Salaam said, issuing a call to action for people to vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. “I want you to walk with us. I want you to March with us. I want you to vote with us.”
He added: When America votes Harris into the White House, “we will say what I have said after seven long years of wrongful incarceration — free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last!”