New York City is honoring the Central Park Five, a group of men who were wrongfully convicted as teenagers of the 1989 rape of a jogger, with the naming of a gate at the park.
The project was unanimously approved by the city’s Public Design Commission on Monday and plans to inscribe “Gate of the Exonerated” in sandstone on a perimeter wall at the north end of Central Park. The approval follows three years of discussions among community members, according to Central Park Conservancy member John Reddick.
Each member of the so-called Central Park Five, who are Black and Latino, spent six to 13 years in prison before being exonerated in 2002 after evidence linked convicted serial rapist and murderer Matias Reyes to the attack. The incident left a 28-year-old white victim with permanent damage and memory loss from the assault.
Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Korey Wise, and Yusef Salaam, were between the ages of 14 and 16 when they were wrongfully convicted of the attack. Now known as the “Exonerated Five,” all five men eventually won a $40 million settlement from New York City in 2014.
CENTRAL PARK FIVE CASE: Co-defendant in Central Park jogger case is exonerated
Sharonne Salaam, the mother of Yusef Salaam, commented on the project’s approval and said the gate will serve as a reminder of the challenges wrongfully convicted people face.
“When you look at that concept, you say to yourself, well, how do we heal this?” she said during the City Hall hearing. “Because somewhere we are going wrong and we’ve got to sit down and fix it somehow.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams thanked community leaders for their work and advocacy, calling the project “a moment of truth and reconciliation” for the city. He said the Gate of the Exonerated will serve as a symbol of resiliency for the Exonerated Five and those who have been wrongfully convicted.
The project is an addition to other Central Park entrances that have honored people who live and work in the city, including the Artisans’ Gate, Scholars’ Gate, and Strangers’ Gate.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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