Do the right thing
The Netflix series, When They See US, which dramatises the shocking miscarriage of justice of the Central Park Five, has become the TV show of the year. Donal O’Donoghue reports
When you watch When They See Us - and you will - you will likely be assailed by a welter of emotions. Anger yes, wonderment too but sadness will probably trump all in this vivid four-part dramatisation of the true life tale of the Central Park Five. Directed by the Oscar-nominated filmmaker (13th), Ava DuVernay, When They See Us has electrified the global TV community like few other shows (apart from possibly fellow Netflix original, Making a Murderer) since it premiered on May 31. And the fall-out since then has been significant, not least for one of its central characters, the former sex crime prosecutor and best-selling novelist, Linda Fairstein.
On the night of April 19, 1989 a white female jogger was raped,
beaten and left for dead in New York’s Central Park. Four African American and one Hispanic teenager (aged between 13 and 16 years) were apprehended and coerced into video confessions by the NYPD. The five were jailed and served between six and 13 years in prison. In 2002 Matias Reyes, a convicted murderer and serial rapist, confessed to the rape of the jogger and his DNA was found to be a match to the crime scene. The five boys were exonerated, sued New York City in 2003 with the city very belatedly settling the case for $41 million in 2014.
One of the chief players, and villains in the Netflix drama, is New York sex crimes prosecutor, Linda Fairstein, a hero of law enforcement (and inspiration for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) who subsequently carved out a career as a bestselling crime fiction novelist. Her latest, Blood Oath, landed last March, with the tagline “a timely, captivating thriller about the deep – and often deadly – reverberations of past sins.” But the release of When They See Us has put Fairstein under the cosh. Last week, in the wake of the backlash, the 72-year-old resigned from a number of boards and shut down her twitter account. There was also an online petition and a call to boycott her books.
Of course there are many other villains in this tale, including the detectives who coerced the boys into making their false confessions, the legal system that failed them and a NYC real estate magnate called Donald Trump who forked out $85,000 for advertising seeking the death penalty for the five, even when the case was still ongoing. Fairstein has said that she is unfairly represented in the Netflix drama and long after the convictions were quashed she still maintained that the five played some part in the rape. Blood Oath was Fairstein’s 20th novel: one wonders will there be a 21st and what it will be about.