Exonerated Five Member Wins Seat on NYC Council

Yesterday, a member of the Exonerated Five won a seat on the New York City council. The electoral victory for Yusef Salam, a political newcomer who was wrongly imprisoned as a teenager in the infamous Central Park jogger rape case, comes more than two decades after DNA evidence was used to overturn the convictions of Salaam and four other Black and Latino men in the1989 case. Salaam was imprisoned for almost seven years.

Salaam, a Democrat, will represent a central Harlem district on the city council, having run unopposed for the seat in one of many local elections in New York state on Tuesday. He won his primary election in a landslide. “For me, this means that we can really become our ancestors’ wildest dreams,” Salaam said during an interview.

Salaam’s candidacy is a reminder of what the war on crime can look like when it goes too far. Salaam was 15 when he was arrested along with Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise and accused of attacking a woman running in Central Park. The crime dominated headlines in the city, inflaming racial tensions as police rounded up Black and Latino men and boys for interrogation. The teens convicted in the attack served between five and 12 years in prison before the case was re-examined. A serial rapist and murderer was eventually linked to the crime through DNA evidence and a confession. The convictions of the Central Park Five were vacated in 2002 and they received a combined $41m settlement from the city.

Salaam campaigned on easing poverty and combatting gentrification in Harlem. He often mentioned his conviction and imprisonment on the trail, lending to his place as a symbol of injustice helping to animate the overwhelmingly Black district and drive him to victory.

“I am really the ambassador for everyone’s pain,” he said. “In many ways, I went through that for our people so I can now lead them.”