Yusef, Kevin, Antron, Korey, and Raymond. The focal point of Ken Burns' documentary, The Central Park Five. Yusef, Kevin, Antron, Korey, and Raymond. Five names that will forever be remembered for something they did not do. Yusef, Kevin, Antron, Korey, and Raymond. A city and justice system that would do anything to put someone behind bars. Yusef, Kevin, Antron, Korey, and Raymond... As a senior in high school, I watched The Central Park Five in one of my classes. From what I remember, there was a lot of focus on the City of New York, and the trial itself. To better understand the Exonerated Five's point of view, I watched Oprah Winfrey Presents: When They See Us Now, a conversation with the Exonerated Five, as well as cast members and crew of Ava DuVernay's When They See Us. From this conversation I learned so much about the media's role in the Central Park Five case. I never knew how much of a "mob mentality" was created to turn the City of New York against five teenage boys. Ava DuVernay described so clearly when stating that the Exonerated Five were stripped of their humanity and labeled the "Central Park Five," a name that they will live with for the rest of their lives. The moment that struck me the most was when Joshua Jackson, who played a defense lawyer for one of the Exonerated Five, described how horrified he was when reading the script and seeing that the prosecution built their entire case on coerced confessions. He described the process as working the way it was intended to, and closed his statement by explaining that the justice system has the wrong name. Right after When They See Us premiered on Netflix, it skyrocketed to number one on the platform. Now, I wonder if it would have had an even bigger cultural impact if it premiered after the death of George Floyd. For so long, many of the people of this country refused to see policing and the justice system for what it is, the injustice system. In the future, it will take all of us to refuse to conform to a mob mentality, and seek the truth to make sure that nothing like what happened to the Exonerated Five will ever happen again.
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AuthorAndrew Painter — Western Washington University Honors student Categories |