More than 30 years ago in New York City, April 19, 1989, five innocent male POC teens (ages 14-16) were arrested. They were accused of attacking a 28 year old woman and were charged with rape. The young woman was out for a night jog in Central Park. The case later known as the “Central Park Jogger Case” made a big outbreak, making its compelling story that New York city will remember forever. The city made a memorial, at the Central Park entrance, to honor the five innocent men who were wrongfully convicted.

During the 80’s, many other race crimes were appearing. The city was segregated, hate crimes towards the black community were happening all over, and the police and justice system were failing us. Racial profiling and racism was the problem of the decade for the Big Apple.

People believed these five young men were being racially profiled. Treating them as if they were black men in a gang, involving themselves in a crime. When all along, these were innocent teenagers with no record of crime in their past, and would have had a bright future for all of them.

12 years later, these men were let out of prison and the truth finally surfaced. A man named Matias Reyes, who was already in prison, admitted that he was responsible for the “Central Park Jogger Case”. He assualted, attacked, and raped the women in the park. The victim’s clothes were tested for any DNA, and investigators were able too match Reyes to them.

These five men had been found “guilty” in court, and served six to eleven years in prison for a crime they did not commit. There was no evidence that any of the teens were involved. The names Keven Richardson, Raymond Santana, Antron Mcray, Yusef Salaam and Kory Wise, also known as the Exonerated Five, are living their newly impacted lives.

They continue to share their stories, and even have a Netflix film and documentary.