This is called vindication.
Yusef Salaam, who at 15 was convicted with five others in 1989 in the Central Park Jogger case, won a seat on the NYC council.
In 1989, Salaam went to jail for seven years, along with the other defendants in the case. They were vilified and railroaded. Donald Trump called for them to get the death penalty in a full page ad in the New York Times and other ads that cost $85,000.
But the so called Central Park Five was exonerated and their convictions vacated in 2002 and they received a combined $41 million settlement from the city. They didn’t do it, just as they’d maintained. as the real culprit was caught through DNA analysis and a confession.
(Trump never apologized. His sick posture on this crime is just one of his many egregious and hateful mistakes in New York, where we know the depth of his evil. How anyone could think of voting for him now is inconceivable.)
Salaam’s election is a sweet vindication after one of the more shameful events in New York history. He will represent a big chunk of Harlem. He ran unopposed after winning a by a big majority in the primary.
