Yusef Salaam One Of The Exonerated Central Park Five Wins NYC Council Seat

Congratulations are most definitely in order as, Yusef Salaam, one of the Exonerated Central Park Five has won a seat at the New York City Council table.

In 1989, at the age of 15 years old, Yusef Salaam along with Korey Wise, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana and Antron McCray, were given the moniker, the Central Park Five, after being arrested and wrongly convicted of the rape and assault of a white female jogger in Central Park, serving between six and 13-plus years in prison for charges including attempted murder, rape and assault.  All were exonerated after Matias Reyes, a convicted murderer and serial rapist, confessed to the crime in 2002. In 2014, they were awarded a $41 million settlement, though the City of New York denied any wrongdoing.

Two decades after DNA evidence was used to overturn the convictions along with a new moniker the Exonerated Central Park Five, Yusef Salaam, a Democrat, has secured the victory to represent a central Harlem district on the City Council.

“I am really the ambassador for everyone’s pain,..In many ways, I went through that for our people so I can now lead them.”- Yusef Salaam

Take a look at the video below