Donald Trump is always ‘complaining’ – and normally it leaves his white supremacy on full display. One such case occurred last year when his tweet about due process caused members of the Central Park Five to call him on his foolishness.
The saga between Trump and the Central Park Five began 30 years ago in 1989 when the former took out ads in four New York newspapers calling for the young Black and brown boys to be executed for the rape of a white woman jogger. Trump even said in an interview, “Of course I hate these people.”
The problem is Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise were all innocent Harlem teens coerced into false confessions. Each spent from five to 13 years in prison for a crime they didn’t commit.
Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 60: Jamarlin Martin “Jamarlin goes solo and talks about Facebook’s ban on Minister Louis Farrakhan and whether or not Barack Obama’s pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was always right. “
After irrevocable suffering for the boys and their families, the real rapist, Matias Reyes, confessed and it was corroborated by DNA evidence. As a result, the Central Park Five were given vacated convictions in 2002 and received a $41 million settlement from the City of New York in 2014, The Grio reported.
Now due to Ava DuVernay’s series “When They See Us” streaming on Netflix, the men’s stories are trending again. This time the story is told from their point of view. Yet Trump still refuses to acknowledge and apologize for his wrong – but had the nerve to complain last year about how lack of due process ruins lives.
Upon learning of Trump’s tweet, Salaam and the rest of the Central Park Five pointed out 45’s hypocrisy.
In an interview with The Grio, Salaam said, “To err is human. Every single person makes mistakes. The beauty of being human is acknowledging and learning from those mistakes. That’s how you grow. Trump does not believe in that. We don’t have a democracy in the White House, we have a complete ‘idiocracy.’”
He also said he would not have a closed-door meeting with Trump, only to come out ‘shuckin’ and jivin’ for a photo opportunity like he says Kanye West, Steve Harvey and several Black pastors did.
“You’re making it seem normal to be in bed with the devil. It’s disgusting,” Salaam continued, pointing out Trump operates from a ridiculous double-standard.
“What we’re seeing is beyond wrong. Trump is essentially creating new laws for different people. He’ll follow due process for himself and the good ol’ boys in his network, but everyone else suffers,” Salaam said.
