Speaks of hope
One of Central Park Five talks in Saratoga Springs about trauma, forgiving Trump
A wrongly convicted Central Park Five member talks at training forum.
More than 30 years ago, Yusef Salaam was arrested by New York City police and shackled to a chair. He was given no food. He was not allowed to sleep. Instead, he was grilled for so many hours — between 24 and 48 — that he doesn’t know the duration.
Despite the pressure, he never confessed to a crime he did not commit. But he was still convicted of rape and sentenced to five to 10 years in prison.
He was only 15 years old and was one of the teens who would come to be known as the Central Park Five.
As part of the infamous group, Salaam was one of five teenagers falsely accused and convicted of raping and beating a female jogger in New York City ’s Central Park on April 19, 1989. But after seven years of incarceration, he and the others were exonerated and released after convicted serial rapist and murderer Matias Reyes admitted to the crime.
Now 45, Salaam travels the world
speaking about his experience in an effort to give hope to the hopeless. He was the keynote motivational speaker on Tuesday at the annual training forum for the New York State Coalition of Children’s Behavioral Health at the Saratoga Hilton. There, he spoke of his recovery after being traumatized by the accusations and conviction. Among the distressing incidents from that time was when Donald Trump, then a New York real estate mogul, called for the execution of Salaam and the other accused boys — Antron Mccray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise — in a full-page New York Times ad.
In his talk, Salaam started with his despair upon entering Harlem Valley Juvenile Detention Center in 1990.
“Everything in me died,” said Salaam to a room full of about 350 people. “I was thinking, ‘how am I going to sur vive.’”
His turning point arrived when a correction officer asked him “Who are you?” Salaam told him he was one of the Central Park Five who was accused of raping the 28-year-old jogger Trisha Meili, but that he was innocent.
“He said, ‘I know, I’ve been watching you. You are not supposed to be here. But who are you?’“Salaam recalled. “His words transformed me. He let me know I was born for a purpose.”
He started studying, eventually earning his associate degree while incarcerated. He also learned that he was bright and “that I am worthy, I matter.”
“I began to believe again,” he said. “When you find yourself in a dark place, turn on that light. You will find the light inside of you.”
Salaam, who after his talk was surrounded by well-wishers who wanted to take photos and selfies with him, said his experience with the justice system caused him and the other four to develop posttraumatic stress disorder.
“We had to figure out how we could survive for another day,” Salaam said. “It ’s tragic. But there is also a benefit, to allow us to be unafraid. We were afraid. We lived a real horror. We can live our lives in spite of the fear.”
The man who wanted the death penalty to be revived for the Central Park Five is now in the White House. Salaam copes by not having a television. He also has forgiven Trump because he knows that by forgiving the president, he’s freeing himself from Trump’s hold on his psyche.
“Forgiveness is not for him,” Salaam said. “He doesn’t think about me. We are not on his radar. He’s not losing sleep about us. We are ... I need to remove myself from the burden.”
Salaam, a Muslim who now lives in Atlanta and is the father of 10 children, said he hopes his resiliency resonates.
“My value added is to positively charge people to change the world,” Salaam said. “I have gone through what I have gone through. A roomful of caretakers and caregivers are wanting to hear what I have to say so they can be re-energized to do the work.”
He worries, though, because he said racism, which has always been “alive and well,” is now, he said, “alive and sick.”
“I want to have a platform where I add more volume, more goodness in the world,” Salaam said. “I don’t want you to see yourself as more special or better than others. I want you to find their light, turn it on and shine it into the world so when you are on your death bed, you can know you gave life to all of your hopes and dreams. You don’t want the cemetery to be the place where hopes and dreams die.”