Korey Wise of the “Central Park Exonerated Five” slammed Donald Trump at the DNC on Thursday night for his role in the public attacks against him and his fellow former defendants.
“Forty-five years ago, my friends and I were in prison for a crime we did not commit. Our youth was stolen from us,” Wise said on the Democratic National Convention stage with three other members of the group also known as the “Central Park Five.” Rev. Al Sharpton had brought them onto the stage.
“Every day, as we walked into the courtroom, people screamed at us, threatened us, because of Donald Trump,” Wise said. “He spent $85,000 on a full-page ad in the New York Times calling for our execution. We were innocent kids, but we served a total of 41 years in prison.”
Five Black and Latino teenagers — Wise, Yusef Salaam (who is now a New York City councilman), Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, and Antron McCray — were falsely accused of raping and beating a white female runner in Central Park in 1989. The case shocked New York City and drew nationwide attention, fueled by Trump, a local celebrity for his real estate empire, putting out newspaper ads about the case and calling for the death penalty to be reinstated to kill the teens.
The young men served years in prison before DNA evidence and the confession of another man in 2002 exonerated them. But Trump continues to refuse to apologize to them.
Wise at the convention argued the saga proves Trump is unfit for the presidency, and endorsed Democrat Kamala Harris for president.
