‘ENLIGHTEN PEOPLE’

New York City Honors ‘Central Park Five’ by Renaming Park Entrance

The group of teenagers were wrongly convicted for the attack and rape of a twilight jogger in 1989, sparking national discussions on race and criminal justice.

New York City has decided to rename a corner of its most iconic park to honor the Central Park Five, who were wrongfully convicted for a brutal attack and rape of a twilight jogger in 1989. The northeast corner of Central Park will now be known as the “Gate of the Exonerated,” with its new name adorned on a large sandstone wall at the spot that the five Black and Latino youths entered the park that evening. The symbolic act adds to a growing list of reparations offered to the group of men, who previously received a $41 million settlement with the city, and were the subjects of numerous award-winning documentaries and a Pulitzer-prize winning opera. The group, who were given sentences ranging from six to 12 years over the false charges, were exonerated in 2002 after serial rapist and murderer Matias Reyes admitted to the crime. “Every time people go by the gate and remember what happened here, even after we are gone, our story will enlighten people,” said one of the Five, Yusef Salaam, according to The New York Times.