Interview With Yusef Salaam Of The Central Park Five (Unedited) — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:05[Music]
2. 0:19I spend all my money
3. 0:23on a big old fancy car
4. 0:27for these bright
5. 0:30Honey, oh yeah, you know who you are.
6. 0:35Keep me up till the sun is high. Till
7. 0:39the birds start calling my name.
8. 0:42I'm addicted and I don't know why. Guess
9. 0:47I've always been this way. All these
10. 0:51roads.
11. 0:52And welcome back to Let Your Voice Be
12. 0:55Heard on WHR 90.3.
13. 0:58the voice of Harlem. What?
14. 1:00You seem like unsure.
15. 1:01Yeah, welcome back. Well, for me,
16. 1:04welcome back cuz I wasn't here last
17. 1:05week.
18. 1:06Definitely. Welcome back to Patricia.
19. 1:08Thank you.
20. 1:08She's back. You know what I called? I
21. 1:10think last week I was like, I know
22. 1:11everyone's going to miss her sultry
23. 1:13voice and giggles and her many giggles.
24. 1:17Sultry voice.
25. 1:17I just miss her sandwiches.
26. 1:19And then that's exactly what Stanley
27. 1:20said last week.
28. 1:21Oh my god. You know what? I actually
29. 1:23usually when I'm not here, I listen. But
30. 1:25I was so sick. I was sleeping the whole
31. 1:27time and my boyfriend Sammy actually
32. 1:29told me he's like why weren't you
33. 1:30listening to the show today? Usually
34. 1:31when you're home and whatever you listen
35. 1:32I'm like I didn't even care today but I
36. 1:35did hear it later.
37. 1:37Oh okay.
38. 1:37I just didn't hear it live. Usually like
39. 1:39I hear it live like if I'm home even if
40. 1:41I'm busy but I just couldn't I couldn't
41. 1:43even talk like my voice was gone.
42. 1:44Oh my goodness.
43. 1:45I'm getting better though. I had a bad
44. 1:46cold guys last week. That's why I wasn't
45. 1:48right.
46. 1:49Everything itis
47. 1:50Are you contagious?
48. 1:51No it's gone.
49. 1:52She she is Lena. She's turning people
50. 1:54into
51. 1:54only if we kiss. And I don't think we're
52. 1:56going to do that.
53. 1:56Okay, cool. So, oh, if you guys don't
54. 2:00know, my name is Selena Hill and that's
55. 2:02Miss Selena Hill. Ms. Selena Hill on
56. 2:04Twitter. You can holl at me there and
57. 2:06Instagram.
58. 2:06You should just rename your Twitter name
59. 2:08to just awkward. But that's what that's
60. 2:10what you are right now. You're super
61. 2:11awkward.
62. 2:12You're awkward. You started you started
63. 2:14a little bit like I'm not sure if we
64. 2:16were here last week, but you're done.
65. 2:17You're not awkward anymore.
66. 2:19Okay.
67. 2:19I disagree. You are ra You are raging in
68. 2:21awkwardness right now. You know, I get
69. 2:22that often. I
70. 2:24That's her normal. You said that once,
71. 2:26right? You're like, "Oh, I'm being
72. 2:27awkward. Oh, this is normal for me."
73. 2:29Yeah. No, no, it's true. Like, I've been
74. 2:30getting that since college. You're like,
75. 2:32you know, that was really awkward. Do
76. 2:34you not like me, Selena? What are you
77. 2:36talking about? So,
78. 2:39this is Patricia Valoy, Besito86 on
79. 2:42Twitter.
80. 2:44And we have Stan the Man ones and twos
81. 2:46and YouTube downloading our clips.
82. 2:48I was actually on YouTube just now. And
83. 2:51yeah, this is Stanley, your favorite
84. 2:52engineer. Um, I had a really good Friday
85. 2:55with Selena. I really wanted to mention
86. 2:57that
87. 2:58you do.
88. 2:59Yes, I can't.
89. 3:00Are you guys dating now?
90. 3:01Not at all. Absolutely not.
91. 3:02Hold on. Can I Can I just shout out?
92. 3:04Go ahead.
93. 3:05Um, Danielle, our intern with the Santa
94. 3:07Claus hat.
95. 3:09I like that hat.
96. 3:10I know. I like that, too. And Kanza, who
97. 3:11is also sick and also here, our events
98. 3:14manager/ business administrator. I'm
99. 3:16sorry.
100. 3:16Kanza has a bend currently, but she will
101. 3:19be okay.
102. 3:20Gout. It's gout.
103. 3:21Yes. Yes. Yes. She went She was doing
104. 3:24some work on the Brooklyn Bridge. Went
105. 3:25too far down too fast and now she has a
106. 3:27bend.
107. 3:28Okay. So, what's up? Oh, yeah. Stanley
108. 3:30Friday. We went to the WHR holiday
109. 3:32party.
110. 3:33Yo, yes, we did. And it was definitely a
111. 3:35lot of fun. If you missed it, you should
112. 3:36make sure you come back next time. We
113. 3:38have a party.
114. 3:39How much fun did you have, Stanley?
115. 3:40Selena, I was eating chicken and doing a
116. 3:42twostep at the same time.
117. 3:44Of course they barbecue chicken. They
118. 3:46have fried chicken.
119. 3:46I think they Oh, fried fish.
120. 3:48Southern whiteies. You don't know how
121. 3:49they get down.
122. 3:50I know something fried.
123. 3:52Exactly.
124. 3:52My arteries were clogged and happy. But
125. 3:55yes, it was No, it was really good food.
126. 3:56We had a great time. We met a lot of
127. 3:58people there and we represented. But let
128. 4:00your voice be heard. So
129. 4:01definitely Brother Leroy was sitting
130. 4:03there chilling in the cut.
131. 4:04I know.
132. 4:05Sipping on his gingerell rocking out.
133. 4:06You know how brother Leroy get down.
134. 4:08And um Stanley was there trying to dance
135. 4:10with the um elder women trying to get it
136. 4:12all women. Oh my god.
137. 4:14Yes. I actually sprained my ACL trying
138. 4:16to do the electric slide. Um, well, I'm
139. 4:18on crutches right now, guys. I will be
140. 4:20okay
141. 4:20now. But afterwards, no, we got to I got
142. 4:23to call you out something cuz
143. 4:24afterwards, we stopped by um our
144. 4:26Reverend Well, old my my Reverend
145. 4:28Selena's old reverend and friend Darren
146. 4:30Ferguson and he was having a benefit for
147. 4:32his church and I haven't been to church
148. 4:34in a while. So, I guess I forgot
149. 4:38as you walk through the door.
150. 4:39Yeah, you know, my skin felt a little
151. 4:40hot, right? So, I repented and you know,
152. 4:41I was cool again. But I Darren's like
153. 4:43doing this really slow, soulful song.
154. 4:45I'm like, "Wow, this is great." And he
155. 4:47goes, "Jesus is the center of my life.
156. 4:49Are you tired?" Everybody's like, "No."
157. 4:50And then the the the drum started going
158. 4:53and then women started twerking and
159. 4:54people doing the stinking
160. 4:56was up. She's like, "This is the kind of
161. 4:57Jesus I'm talking about." I was like, it
162. 4:59was
163. 4:59Oh my goodness.
164. 5:00I didn't realize church could be that
165. 5:01fun. He's like, "You tired?" Everybody
166. 5:03like, "No, stop for Jesus. Stop."
167. 5:06What it was, it was very stress. It was
168. 5:08relieving because we did a lot of
169. 5:10exercise, a lot of stress relieving
170. 5:13exercise and a lot of
171. 5:14dance. I would be more interest I would
172. 5:15be more interested in going to church if
173. 5:16I could dance while I'm there. I mean,
174. 5:18we used to growing up Catholic. I was
175. 5:19still Hispanic. So, we do we would have
176. 5:21parties also that we did have some, you
177. 5:24know, like men playing and all that
178. 5:25stuff, but during actual mass, you got
179. 5:27to be quiet and just sit down.
180. 5:28Okay. So,
181. 5:30I'm sorry.
182. 5:30I want to say that there's actually
183. 5:32breaking news. the brother of Adam
184. 5:34Lanza, that is the shooter of the New
185. 5:37Town school massacre. He has finally
186. 5:40spoken out. I just received this news um
187. 5:43on my cell phone like momentarily and I
188. 5:45just want to read what's going on.
189. 5:47Yes.
190. 5:47Okay. So, Ryan Lanza, the older brother
191. 5:49of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooter,
192. 5:51Adam Lanza, says he's a victim of the
193. 5:53massacre by losing both his mother and
194. 5:56brother. In a message to the New York
195. 5:58Post via Facebook, Ryan says, "I am a
196. 6:01victim. I lost my mom and brother. Uh
197. 6:04TMZ also reports Ryan also posted
198. 6:06pictures of his brother and mother, each
199. 6:08with a message underneath. For his
200. 6:10brother, he wrote, "I will miss you,
201. 6:12bro. I will always love you as long as
202. 6:14you live." And for his mom, he wrote, "I
203. 6:17miss you, Mom. I love you so much. You
204. 6:18will always be in my heart." So, I mean,
205. 6:23but hold on. The post claims Ryan is
206. 6:25responding to posts wishing that his
207. 6:27brother would rot in hell.
208. 6:29Oh, sorry.
209. 6:30Well, you know, that's a little more
210. 6:32what I expected from him.
211. 6:33Well, he's honest. He's defending him.
212. 6:34He's saying, "I'm so tired of people
213. 6:36blaming me for something my brother did.
214. 6:38I love Adam, but you have no right to
215. 6:40call my brother names when he isn't here
216. 6:43no more. Just let my brother rest in
217. 6:45peace."
218. 6:47Please respect that.
219. 6:48Yeah. No, I mean, I'm not endorsing what
220. 6:50Adam did. I'm not saying what he did was
221. 6:53awesome, but you know what? He's still
222. 6:54someone's family member. And you even
223. 6:57respect his family.
224. 6:58Yeah. Even if you have like someone
225. 6:59who's messed up, there are still people
226. 7:01who love them.
227. 7:02And you know what? Like he's dealing
228. 7:04with enough stuff trying to go through
229. 7:05losing his mother and his brother. You
230. 7:06don't necessarily need people going,
231. 7:07"Oh, he should burn in H L or send in."
232. 7:10I thought that he said that himself.
233. 7:12Somebody said that to him.
234. 7:13Yeah. He was responding to posts um that
235. 7:16he was receiving saying that his brother
236. 7:19and all this.
237. 7:20Why are you attacking the family?
238. 7:21Honestly, listen. I have I I this guy
239. 7:23was messed up. What he did was
240. 7:24completely utterly wrong. I don't really
241. 7:26believe that there's a hell, but I kind
242. 7:28of wish there was one right now. And I
243. 7:29hope that he's there. I hope he's
244. 7:31burning in there right now. But his
245. 7:33family has nothing to His brother at
246. 7:34least had nothing to do with that. He
247. 7:35didn't he didn't raise him. He didn't he
248. 7:37didn't do that to him. He didn't cause
249. 7:38anything. Well, as far as I'm concerned,
250. 7:40I don't know. I don't know the
251. 7:41relationship. But I wouldn't want my if
252. 7:43my family does something, I don't want
253. 7:44somebody attacking me.
254. 7:45No, I get what you're saying.
255. 7:46Um, you know, guys, I'm I'm sure like,
256. 7:48you know, you're listening out here and
257. 7:49you probably have an opinion on this.
258. 7:50Feel free to call us 212-650-693.
259. 7:53And Quanza is on a computer. So is
260. 7:55Danielle that banging on the Twitters.
261. 7:56You can tweet us their opinions at
262. 7:58berd_radio.
263. 8:00If I mean as someone who grow grew up in
264. 8:02a neighborhood where you have family
265. 8:03members who are in jail for different
266. 8:05things. I had one of my good friends
267. 8:06who's in jail right now for double
268. 8:07homicide, killed two cops. That's not an
269. 8:10awesome thing to do on any level, but
270. 8:12you know, I still love that friend. And
271. 8:14if someone was posting disparaging
272. 8:16things on my wall about them, I'd be
273. 8:17upset. I'm not happy about what they
274. 8:18did. But at the end of the day, I didn't
275. 8:20know the killer. I knew the person.
276. 8:22No. And I I get what you're saying, St.
277. 8:24I will still just not get along with
278. 8:25that person anymore. But, you know,
279. 8:27that's my personal thing. I'm like, I'm
280. 8:29done.
281. 8:29So, speaking of tragedies, um, today on
282. 8:33Let Your Voice Be Heard, um, we're
283. 8:34starting off the show, we're going to be
284. 8:36speaking about the Central Park 5. If
285. 8:38you, A lot of people do remember this
286. 8:40case. It was internationally renowned. I
287. 8:42was actually I brought it up to my mom
288. 8:43last night. She was like, "Oh, yeah. I
289. 8:45definitely remember that case." In 1989,
290. 8:47five black and Latino men were wrongly
291. 8:49accused and convicted for raping a white
292. 8:52woman. race had a huge was a huge factor
293. 8:55in this case as well as class and these
294. 8:58teen boys basically lost their teen
295. 9:00lives and uh their teen years to
296. 9:03imprisonment and they're still fighting
297. 9:05for justice retribution apologies just
298. 9:08something
299. 9:08it gives me the chills just thinking
300. 9:10about and actually I wasn't living in
301. 9:11the US when that happened so I didn't
302. 9:13learn about it until much later I was
303. 9:14probably
304. 9:15two years old 1989
305. 9:18you know what's crazy about that as well
306. 9:20um I for me at least I was heading over
307. 9:22here I looked at the New York Post and
308. 9:23there was a black woman who um falsely
309. 9:25accused a couple of white guys for rape
310. 9:27and you know obviously ended up being
311. 9:29wrong and the New York Post was like how
312. 9:30dare she not apologize and I was just
313. 9:32thinking wow
314. 9:32yeah what about these
315. 9:34it's like the opposite then it's just
316. 9:36like oh well we were wrong deal with it
317. 9:38and the thing is the media actually
318. 9:40covers interracial rape very differently
319. 9:42so if it's black on black crime right on
320. 9:44right it's different so we're actually
321. 9:46going to be speaking to one of the
322. 9:47exonerated Central Park 5 his name is
323. 9:49Yousef Abdul Salam so I'm excited to
324. 9:51have him on. And then Patricia, I was
325. 9:54trying to like wink at you.
326. 9:56Oh, that was a wink. I'm sorry. I
327. 9:57thought you were coming in your eyes.
328. 10:00Then in the second hour, we actually
329. 10:02going to be interviewing Lisa Bloom
330. 10:03again. She wrote the book Swag Swagger.
331. 10:05Look at the Swagger. Swagger um about
332. 10:07how to raise boys in this day and age
333. 10:09with our education system failing, mass
334. 10:12incarceration, gun violence. There's a
335. 10:14lot of things that are affecting our
336. 10:15boys. And we're going to talk to her and
337. 10:16see, you know, why she wrote a book and
338. 10:18what she can teach us about raising
339. 10:19boys. It's a really awesome book and
340. 10:21it's really sobering. Holy, I can't wait
341. 10:23for her to get on.
342. 10:24Definitely.
343. 10:24I'm excited about this.
344. 10:25What are you talking about?
345. 10:26We are talking about Instagram. I know a
346. 10:28lot of you guys probably heard about
347. 10:29Instagram and the fact that they said in
348. 10:31their new private policy they could sell
349. 10:32your pictures, but then they changed
350. 10:34that after they got public backlash. I'm
351. 10:36going to let you know whether that's
352. 10:38true or not of whether they're no longer
353. 10:40going to be selling your pictures or if
354. 10:41it's maybe sold already.
355. 10:43So, we have a very exciting show coming
356. 10:45up here and let your voice be heard.
357. 10:46Keep tuning in. And this is WATR9.3 FM
358. 10:49radio again. We're coming back with the
359. 10:51Central Park 5. It was a great
360. 10:53documentary, too. So stay right here.
361. 10:56Slammer. I know they hating on my
362. 10:58commander.
363. 11:00Take a second.
364. 11:03There is no one like me.
365. 11:04Like me.
366. 11:05There is no one like me.
367. 11:07Like me.
368. 11:09[Music]
369. 11:13WCR
370. 11:1590.3 FM New York.
371. 11:18[Music]
372. 11:25Hi, this is Calvin Burrell inviting you
373. 11:28to join me each Saturday at midnight
374. 11:30until 4:00 a.m. Sunday morning for the
375. 11:33best in regga music right here on WHCR
376. 11:3890.3 FM. Everything will be iie.
377. 11:43[Music]
378. 11:49Veterans have difficulty transitioning
379. 11:51their military skills into civilian
380. 11:53jobs. In New York City, an estimated
381. 11:5517,300 veterans are unemployed. Are you
382. 11:59in veteran in desperate need of help? Do
383. 12:01you want to take advantage of a
384. 12:02life-changing opportunity? If so, the
385. 12:04369th Veterans Outreach Program is
386. 12:07designed to assist veterans in Harlem
387. 12:08and surrounding communities. Veteran
388. 12:11services include resume preparation,
389. 12:13interview workshops, access to interview
390. 12:16attire, and reliable transportation. For
391. 12:18more information, call the 369th
392. 12:20Veterans Outreach Program at 6465339292.
393. 12:30WHCR
394. 12:3190.3 FM, New York. like doing anything.
395. 12:37I just want to lay in my bed.
396. 12:43Don't feel like picking up my phone. So
397. 12:46leave a message at the tone. Cuz today I
398. 12:49swear I'm not doing anything.
399. 12:53I'm going to kick my feet up then stare
400. 12:56at the friend. Turn the TV on. Throw my
401. 12:58hand in my pants. Nobody's going to tell
402. 13:01me I can't.
403. 13:04Nah, I'll be lounging on the couch just
404. 13:06chilling in my Snuggie. Quick to MTV so
405. 13:09they can teach me how to dugge in my
406. 13:11castle.
407. 13:12Yes, that's what he said. Chilling in my
408. 13:13snuggies. I can see that line.
409. 13:15I can see from this face that she does
410. 13:16not like that I'm playing Bruno Mars
411. 13:17today.
412. 13:18No, I said I really like that line.
413. 13:19Chilling in my Snuggies.
414. 13:22I can never tell what your face is
415. 13:23because usually when you repeat a line
416. 13:24from a song, you usually don't like it
417. 13:26if I'm playing it.
418. 13:27Oh, still.
419. 13:27Do you have a snuggy? Yes, I have a
420. 13:29Snuggie and I love doing a Douggeie, so
421. 13:31that's why I
422. 13:32Three of you fit in there.
423. 13:33Oh my god,
424. 13:34I know. It's It's comfy.
425. 13:35Is that Snuggie comfortable?
426. 13:36Of course it is.
427. 13:38Okay, so we're back on Let Your Voice Be
428. 13:40Heard. We're talking about the Central
429. 13:42Central Park Five. I watched that
430. 13:45documentary and it was very moving. Um,
431. 13:47again, this is a it was an
432. 13:49internationally renowned case. A lot of
433. 13:51people can just recall it happened back
434. 13:53in 1989. And I think my mom started when
435. 13:56I talked about it with her, she started
436. 13:58naming some of the um the Central Park
437. 14:00boys who became victims off the top of
438. 14:02her head. Like she was like she was
439. 14:04like, "Yes, Selena, I know exactly what
440. 14:06happened." Then she started naming some
441. 14:07of the racially quoted um terms that the
442. 14:10press used um at when describing this
443. 14:13case such as Wilding and I'm and
444. 14:15Wolfpack and she just could recall a lot
445. 14:17of the details off of the top of her
446. 14:19head. So, I know that a lot of people,
447. 14:20especially here in Harlem and probably
448. 14:23across the nation, can still remember
449. 14:24this case. But just in case, if you
450. 14:26can't, let me just refresh your memory.
451. 14:28It was called the crime of the century
452. 14:31by former New York City Mayor Ed Cotch
453. 14:33back in 1989 when five black and Latino
454. 14:36teen boys were accused of raping a white
455. 14:37woman in Central Park. Now, the teens
456. 14:40happened to be in Central Park the night
457. 14:42that Trisha Mey was raped. Now, Trisha,
458. 14:46she was a 29-year-old Wall Street
459. 14:47investment banker that lived on the
460. 14:49Upper East Side. She was savagely beaten
461. 14:52and raped nearly to death, and she
462. 14:54became known as the Central Park Jarger
463. 14:56because she actually didn't reveal her
464. 14:58name until years later. So, the more
465. 15:00this case became popular and the more
466. 15:03media attention that it received, all of
467. 15:05a sudden, you see journalists,
468. 15:07reporters, people like Donald Trump just
469. 15:11calling for the blood of the culprits,
470. 15:13all the culprit. and just demanding that
471. 15:16they be persecuted. So the NYPD and the
472. 15:18detectives, they quickly rounded up a
473. 15:20group of inner city teens who were
474. 15:22associated with a group of teens in the
475. 15:26park that night that were causing
476. 15:27mischief. These were the five boys that
477. 15:30were prosecuted. We have Anton McCrae,
478. 15:33Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Corey
479. 15:35Rise, and Yousef Salam. They were all
480. 15:38between the ages of 14 to 16 years old,
481. 15:40and they all became the targets of this
482. 15:42case. All right. So, I mean, everybody
483. 15:45probably pretty much watches um like SUV
484. 15:48and cop, you know, cop shows where they
485. 15:50show the interrogation process and how
486. 15:52they get people to confess. This was
487. 15:54actually a reality and it was much more
488. 15:58interrogating and aggressive and abusive
489. 16:01than um we even watch on TV shows. So,
490. 16:04get this, 24 hours. They were
491. 16:06interrogated for 24 hours at least. And
492. 16:09then police used intimidation tactics to
493. 16:11coersse the teens um who are already
494. 16:14under exhaustion into confessing the
495. 16:16rape on videotape. So they all confessed
496. 16:19on videotape. However, their confessions
497. 16:22were out of sync from each other and
498. 16:24there was no genetic evidence or
499. 16:25witnesses to link them to the scene of
500. 16:27the crime. However, again, the public,
501. 16:30media, everyone is calling for these
502. 16:32five boys to be prosecuted just um um
503. 16:35regardless of the fact that they're
504. 16:36teens, regardless of the fact that, you
505. 16:38know, there's no strong evidence. Um and
506. 16:41they were eventually found guilty and
507. 16:43locked up for 7 to 13 years. One of the
508. 16:46men, Corey Rise, he was actually 16
509. 16:49during the trial and he was sent to an
510. 16:51adult prison on Riker's Island. Wow. And
511. 16:54during the documentary that I watched um
512. 16:56which was called the Central Park 5 as
513. 16:57well, he actually explained and he was
514. 16:59like being 16 and on an adult prison and
515. 17:02people knowing that you're there on a
516. 17:04rape charge, he told like he you could
517. 17:06see the pain in his eyes of how
518. 17:08traumatic that was. He was like look
519. 17:09just take it like this. I had to grow up
520. 17:11really fast. Um so they were like all
521. 17:14and they were they were innocent kids.
522. 17:15So after serving between five to 13
523. 17:18years for the crime, the young men um
524. 17:20they were exonerated in 2002 based off
525. 17:23DNA evidence when Matias Reyes actually
526. 17:27confessed to the crime and matched the
527. 17:29DNA found on Trisha's body that night.
528. 17:32Um and again the the film I'm talking
529. 17:34about, it's called the Central Park 5.
530. 17:36It was released 10 years after the
531. 17:37exoneration and it just talks about how
532. 17:40everything went wrong. I mean, during
533. 17:42this time in New York City, the city was
534. 17:45divided by class and by race. Um, for
535. 17:48the most part, many people were very
536. 17:50quick to call these boys out and to
537. 17:52prosecute them and think that they're
538. 17:53just really guilty. Um, but there were a
539. 17:55few people, I think, like definitely the
540. 17:56Amsterdam News and I think the Sun Times
541. 17:58were like, "Where's the evidence? Let's
542. 18:00not be quick to judge." And you know
543. 18:02what? This kind of reminds me of the
544. 18:03George Zimmerman case. Even though
545. 18:05there's two different trials, but when
546. 18:07you think about it, he was saying the
547. 18:08same testimony. was like, you know, let
548. 18:10the evidence come out. Let let me go to
549. 18:12trial first.
550. 18:13Well, journalists like to give opinions
551. 18:14that they shouldn't. That's not supposed
552. 18:15to be there. I mean, unless you're
553. 18:16writing an opinion piece, you should be
554. 18:18talking about the facts and what you
555. 18:19have that is proven. And that's the
556. 18:21problem with it is nobody ever you talk
557. 18:23about this and they might be guilty,
558. 18:24they might not be, not in this case, in
559. 18:26any case, but you need to just talk
560. 18:28about this is the evidence that we have
561. 18:29that it is actually verifiable that you
562. 18:31have and that's it. If you don't have
563. 18:32anything to say, we don't know yet.
564. 18:34That's a journalist's job. And a lot of
565. 18:35our journalists don't do that. And
566. 18:37that's the problem with the media.
567. 18:38And that is very true, Patricia. So, we
568. 18:40actually have on the line Yousef Abdul
569. 18:42Salam. He was one of the exonerated
570. 18:45Central Park Five. We're going to get
571. 18:47him on the line now. And if anyone wants
572. 18:48to call up and talk about the Central
573. 18:50Park Five, what you think went wrong and
574. 18:52what were the dominant factors that led
575. 18:54to the prosecution and conviction, the
576. 18:56wrong conviction of these five black and
577. 18:58Latino boys. You can call us up. The
578. 19:00number is 212-650-6903.
579. 19:04You can also tweet us at beheard_radio.
580. 19:07We have people answering your tweets and
581. 19:08we can even read them online. So Yousef,
582. 19:11thank you so much for joining us here
583. 19:13this Sunday morning on Let Your Voice Be
584. 19:15Heard.
585. 19:16Well, thank you for having me. I
586. 19:17definitely appreciate this.
587. 19:18Yes, definitely. And um I I know that
588. 19:20the film has been out. You can actually
589. 19:22go see it on IFC in the IFC Center. Um
590. 19:26they'll be they'll be playing it for
591. 19:27like the next couple of days, even on
592. 19:29Christmas. It's a great film. And I just
593. 19:31want to say like Yousef, what was your
594. 19:33initial reaction when you saw this film?
595. 19:36I know I think it was I forgot which
596. 19:38gentleman. I think it might have been
597. 19:39Raymond who said no no no it was Kevin
598. 19:41who said that he kind of looked at it as
599. 19:43a healing process. It was kind of
600. 19:45therapeutic to finally see your story
601. 19:48being publicized and I I want to know
602. 19:50did you have that same reaction or how
603. 19:52did you feel? Well, most of most of the
604. 19:54therapy that um is talked about in terms
605. 19:56of being kind of like going through a
606. 19:59healing process, especially with this
607. 20:00film, isn't necessarily through the
608. 20:02through the watching of the film um or
609. 20:05through the telling of the film or
610. 20:06through the telling of this true story.
611. 20:08It's really mostly
612. 20:09through being able to have a shared
613. 20:12experience in the movie theater with
614. 20:13everyone and then afterwards cuz it's a
615. 20:15very painful film for us to watch and
616. 20:17very painful for everyone to watch. Um
617. 20:20but to go through the process and then
618. 20:22to to finally get healed through it, to
619. 20:26finally um receive some type of justice
620. 20:29even when people who come up to us and
621. 20:31said, you know, I'm so sorry that you
622. 20:33guys went through this and you know, I'm
623. 20:35I'm so apologetic because I for one am
624. 20:38one of the ones who thought you were
625. 20:39guilty. You know, that right there is
626. 20:41tremendous. This film is is is is
627. 20:43literally
628. 20:45um changing the balance of this of the
629. 20:47scales of justice that were unbalanced
630. 20:50before and calling for blood as you said
631. 20:53and trying to trying to lynch us.
632. 20:55Um
633. 20:56you know it it it changes that it
634. 20:59changes the balance and everything is
635. 21:00now in our favor. the truth is out.
636. 21:03And because the truth is out and it's
637. 21:04out in such a way,
638. 21:06I mean, it's hard for anyone to see this
639. 21:09with in light of what's going on and
640. 21:12still hold this uh this false narrative
641. 21:14in their head. I just want to kind of
642. 21:15clarify something that you said. You
643. 21:17said that we were a part of a group that
644. 21:19were causing mischief that night. What
645. 21:21you have to understand is that that when
646. 21:24they rounded up people in Harlem, they
647. 21:27rounded up any and every teenager that
648. 21:31they could find. It wasn't about whether
649. 21:33you were a part of a group that night or
650. 21:35anything like that. It was the fact that
651. 21:37you were a person of color and you were
652. 21:39in the community and they felt like
653. 21:42because it was already a stigma around
654. 21:45people of color. Like many times I
655. 21:47always talk about being born guilty is
656. 21:49you know just because of the color of
657. 21:50your skin. Here we were born guilty when
658. 21:53in reality law tells people that you are
659. 21:56guilty and proven in until you're proven
660. 21:58innocent where in our cases we weren't
661. 22:00guilty until proven innocent. We were
662. 22:02considered guilty before anything. So,
663. 22:05this is what this is what kind of uh
664. 22:08caused that that um that climate of of
665. 22:12of racism to be very very present when
666. 22:14you had folks like Donald Trump taking
667. 22:16out those full page ads calling for the
668. 22:18the uh reinstatement of the death
669. 22:20penalty in our case. Pat Buchanan
670. 22:22calling for uh or writing articles
671. 22:24saying if the oldest one of them, which
672. 22:26was Cory Wise, was hung from a tree in
673. 22:28Central Park and the others were
674. 22:30horsehipped, maybe the city's park would
675. 22:33be safe again. This is the type of
676. 22:35climate that everything was going
677. 22:36around. You know, we were we were being
678. 22:40uh railroaded in that atmosphere.
679. 22:43Yes. And you know, Yousef, you brought
680. 22:45up so many great points. If you're just
681. 22:47tuning in, we're talking to Yousef
682. 22:48Salam. He was one of the exonerated
683. 22:50Central Park 5 if you want to chime in.
684. 22:53The number is 212-650-6903.
685. 22:57And one of the things you just touched
686. 22:58upon, Yousef, um was the fact that you
687. 23:01were guilty before the trial even
688. 23:03started. It was and like you brought up,
689. 23:05it was based on the color of your skin
690. 23:07and your class. And I and it it sounds
691. 23:10like you're saying that these were the
692. 23:11dominant factors. And we know during
693. 23:13this time, 1989, the city was much
694. 23:16different. We had the crack era. We had
695. 23:19um basically during this time and you
696. 23:22had the drug the war on drugs and people
697. 23:24were looking for a reason to blame
698. 23:28someone you know to blame why do we have
699. 23:30so much crime in the city around this
700. 23:31time there were about six murders a day
701. 23:34um in the city alone. So they they
702. 23:37wanted to escape. And I think that by
703. 23:39targeting by putting a face and a name
704. 23:41on who should be the big bad fearful um
705. 23:45crime committ or you know the criminals
706. 23:48then I I think it made the city feel
707. 23:51better or it made certain classes or
708. 23:54certain or certain race of people feel
709. 23:56better about what was going on.
710. 23:59You're absolutely right. You're
711. 24:00absolutely right. I mean the unfortunate
712. 24:02reality is like you know I mean if we
713. 24:04listen to old old tapes of um unnoted um
714. 24:09unnoted historians and and and people of
715. 24:11people who were great in the community
716. 24:13who were either taken out by the
717. 24:15government or something of that nature.
718. 24:16You know here we find overwhelmingly
719. 24:18everyone saying things like we didn't we
720. 24:20don't manufacture guns in our community.
721. 24:22We don't manufacture drugs in our
722. 24:24community. We don't manufacture most of
723. 24:26the stuff that we're being charged with,
724. 24:28but we're the ones that are being uh
725. 24:30targeted as the owners of all of this
726. 24:33stuff, you know, and it's unfortunate
727. 24:35because, you know, when when you have
728. 24:37the mass public looking at the news
729. 24:40media, like, you know, everything that
730. 24:42everything that is mainstream media,
731. 24:44people look at and say this is true. So,
732. 24:46if it's in the news, then it has to be
733. 24:47true. when in fact a lot of things that
734. 24:49are that go on in the in the so to speak
735. 24:52mainstream news media is absolutely
736. 24:54false and it's hard to change people's
737. 24:56minds and people's um thinking when it's
738. 24:59already out there in the media for
739. 25:01people to believe. I mean especially
740. 25:03with the Central Park Jagger case you
741. 25:05got to understand as well they had um
742. 25:09the worst pictures of us
743. 25:11being publicized. They had the courtroom
744. 25:13artists would draw us and make us look
745. 25:15like we were animals. So anyone who did
746. 25:17not know us were automatically pointing
747. 25:20the accusatory finger saying things like
748. 25:22what's wrong with the parents of these
749. 25:24folks? Who would who would who would
750. 25:26raise as an culture uh famously said
751. 25:30these feral beasts?
752. 25:32You know what I'm saying? Like who would
753. 25:33raise these people? Most of our parents
754. 25:36were parents who were well educated
755. 25:38folks
756. 25:39were parents who were um were definitely
757. 25:41um about um providing for for the
758. 25:44families that we were we were a part of
759. 25:46but no one asked us who we were. No one
760. 25:51wanted to find out anything about our
761. 25:53families. One of the great things about
762. 25:55this film is that it paints a human face
763. 25:58on the Central Park 5 and lets people
764. 26:01really understand the root of how
765. 26:03devastating this was. Not only for us to
766. 26:05go through it at such a young age, but
767. 26:07also for our families and our friends.
768. 26:09Some of our families and friends lost
769. 26:11their lives through this whole process.
770. 26:13Some of our families and friends were
771. 26:15split apart. You know, some people
772. 26:17looked at other at some of us and said,
773. 26:18"Man, those are bad seeds. We don't want
774. 26:20anything to do with them." and
775. 26:22disassociated themselves from us. So,
776. 26:24you can imagine that out of all of that
777. 26:27here now, we have this this this um the
778. 26:30truth come out. And it's not like people
779. 26:32aren't hearing the same thing that they
780. 26:34heard before, but you're hearing us for
781. 26:37the first time. You're hearing the
782. 26:38Central Park Fire talk about the
783. 26:39experience. You're seeing us on the big
784. 26:42screen and you're being able to make a
785. 26:44serious connection with that. And it's
786. 26:46it's so overwhelming. As as Kevin
787. 26:48Richardson said, it's a process that no
788. 26:51one, you know, when we came home, we
789. 26:52were prisoners of war. The war that was
790. 26:55b that was that was um placed on the
791. 26:57communities in the darker enclaves of
792. 27:00society. And here we were coming home
793. 27:02from that. And as prisoners of war, we
794. 27:04didn't receive any kind of
795. 27:05post-traumatic stress therapy.
796. 27:08You see what I'm saying? So
797. 27:10for us to be able to heal and for us to
798. 27:12be able to be sane in society again, for
799. 27:15us to look like um we we we weren't
800. 27:19scarred, we have indelible scars that
801. 27:22will never be able to surgically be
802. 27:26removed. You know what I'm saying?
803. 27:28Definitely. And and I know that that has
804. 27:30to take at least some effect on your
805. 27:31life now, even as adults. Um we're
806. 27:34speaking about this crime was at least
807. 27:3520 years ago. Um, so you you know you
808. 27:39have um I don't want to give your age
809. 27:41out, but 20 years later, I want to know
810. 27:44how has this crime still, I mean, excuse
811. 27:47me, this injustice still affects your
812. 27:49life?
813. 27:50Well, you got to understand this is
814. 27:52actually more than 20 years ago. This is
815. 27:53this happened in ' 89.
816. 27:55I mean, I don't mind don't mind giving
817. 27:56my age out. I'm 38 right now, going on
818. 27:5839.
819. 27:59Okay.
820. 27:59And you know, Corey Wise says it best,
821. 28:01too. He says, "Man, he he never was able
822. 28:03to re to have a birthday party
823. 28:06after the age of 16. He was 16 years old
824. 28:08when he was dragged into the hells of
825. 28:11the belly of the beast. And he was never
826. 28:13able to have a true birthday party. So,
827. 28:15every time this film is shown, every
828. 28:17time he's able to heal with the public,
829. 28:20it's like he's having his birthday party
830. 28:22all over again, you know? I mean, this
831. 28:25this this thing is this is so tremendous
832. 28:28for us. This is like, you know, healing.
833. 28:32Healing through it all has a lot to do
834. 28:34with um the family members that support
835. 28:37you. It has a lot to do with the
836. 28:39community that support you. Cuz as as
837. 28:41Rem Santana famously put as well, you
838. 28:43know, this wasn't just a sentence that
839. 28:45was a 5 to 10 period or 5 to 15 period
840. 28:49of prison term. This was really a death
841. 28:51sentence. We weren't supposed to survive
842. 28:53prison at first. And then because we
843. 28:55survived prison, we weren't supposed to
844. 28:56be able to come out of prison. and
845. 28:58receive any kind of success associated
846. 29:01with us. But because all of those things
847. 29:03are happening now, it's like this this
848. 29:07truth is is so great. You know, you
849. 29:10can't you can't keep the truth crushed
850. 29:12to the ground.
851. 29:14You definitely can't. You can't.
852. 29:17Sorry about that, S.
853. 29:18No, no problem. No.
854. 29:19All right. Um Yousef, this is Stanley
855. 29:20the engineer. Um I I want to kind of
856. 29:22switch gears a little bit. We we we were
857. 29:25talking about, you know, just how bad
858. 29:26things were for black and brown men, you
859. 29:28know, in the late ' 80s with the cracker
860. 29:29and everything else going on. And I
861. 29:31would I would argue that in some ways
862. 29:33it's it's it's just as bad, if not
863. 29:34worse. We have an increasingly high
864. 29:38incarceration rate of black and brown
865. 29:40men. And in New York, where the ratio of
866. 29:43black to white is pretty equal, 84% of
867. 29:47African-American males, 84% of the
868. 29:50prison system in New York are
869. 29:50African-American males. It's a problem
870. 29:52that's still going on now. And you know,
871. 29:53as someone who has been through the
872. 29:55struggle and who was clearly, you know,
873. 29:57wrongfully accused and convicted of a
874. 29:59crime, what do you think we can do to
875. 30:01kind of help to reverse that process?
876. 30:02Not not even with trying to change
877. 30:04someone else's minds, but just working
878. 30:05within our own community?
879. 30:07I'm going to tell you, we we as part of
880. 30:08the Central Park 5, we actually go out
881. 30:10and we speak to communities of color. We
882. 30:12speak to schools. We speak to young
883. 30:14people because what you're saying is
884. 30:15very real and very very prevalent. the
885. 30:18fact that um racism seems like it's not
886. 30:20the same, you know, racism is is is very
887. 30:23institutionalized. I mean, the fact that
888. 30:26they can they can pull out statistics
889. 30:28and say before the age of uh 21, you're
890. 30:30either going to be dead or in jail. This
891. 30:32is the statistics that they have placed
892. 30:34upon the communities of color. And
893. 30:36there's very very vivid books that paint
894. 30:38the picture of what's going on through
895. 30:40through topics like the conspiracy to
896. 30:42destroy the black boys. But then they
897. 30:44have another book that's equally as
898. 30:46important, the conspiracy to destroy the
899. 30:48black girls. You know what I'm saying?
900. 30:50So here you got these communities of
901. 30:52color who are being thrust into a system
902. 30:54that according to the 14th amendment,
903. 30:56you can be you can be put back into a
904. 30:59state of slavery. You see what I'm
905. 31:01saying? So here we are. We may be making
906. 31:02the same benches that schools purchase.
907. 31:05We may be making uh not not that this is
908. 31:08true, but let's say furniture that's
909. 31:10sold in IKEA. We may be the ones that
910. 31:12American Express uses as their phone
911. 31:14callers to take credit card numbers and
912. 31:16place them into the system, but yet
913. 31:18they're going to pay us at most 15 um 50
914. 31:22cents an hour. You see what I'm saying?
915. 31:25Slave wages to do a real job. But when
916. 31:28when they when they when they when they
917. 31:30assault the communities of color, you
918. 31:33got to understand it's really not about
919. 31:34a conspiracy. This is a reality that
920. 31:37goes on. And someone planned this.
921. 31:39Someone planned this out. and they
922. 31:41caused it to happen and are continuing
923. 31:42to cause it to happen and we have to be
924. 31:45very very wise and wake up to this game
925. 31:47that they've been plac that that that
926. 31:49that's placed upon us.
927. 31:50We do. Um we're talking to Yousef Salam.
928. 31:53He was one of the exonerated Central
929. 31:54Park 5. Yousef, please stay on the line.
930. 31:57You dropping knowledge over here. Um
931. 31:59we're loving it. This is a great
932. 32:00discussion we're having about the
933. 32:01Central Park 5 back in 18 1989. But we
934. 32:05have to take a quick break. So stay on
935. 32:07the line, Yousef. We'll be right back on
936. 32:08Let Your Voice Be Heard right here on
937. 32:10WHR.
938. 32:14Never stepped in the gym again, played
939. 32:16ball at all, unless it was street hoops.
940. 32:19It was then, right then, I learned more
941. 32:21of what the streets do. Pop screaming,
942. 32:24"Don't let him mislead you." I was like,
943. 32:26"Yeah, in and out the ear, but only if
944. 32:29he knew." Young Buck, I didn't give a
945. 32:31[ __ ]
946. 32:33about the crack.
947. 32:36I was a ready knee deep in the streets.
948. 32:39Got shot in the shin and he should have
949. 32:41known then about me.
950. 32:42If you know the symptoms and get the
951. 32:44facts, you'll know the signs of a heart
952. 32:47attack. Women listen to me and when I'm
953. 32:50done. If it sounds familiar, call 911.
954. 32:53Pain in your neck, just a jaw breath.
955. 32:57Please tell us more. Cold sweat and
956. 32:59nausea. Tiredness. It's time to take it
957. 33:03serious.
958. 33:05Back pain, stomach pain, shortness of
959. 33:07breath, cold, sweat, noise, dizziness.
960. 33:10If you know the symptoms and he the
961. 33:12signs, you'll be around for a long, long
962. 33:15time.
963. 33:17And when I'm done, if any sound, call
964. 33:20911.
965. 33:21Learn a song that can save your life.
966. 33:23Get a free download at
967. 33:24women'shealth.gov/hart.
968. 33:26[Music]
969. 33:27Listen to me. And when I'm done, if any
970. 33:30familiar,
971. 33:33call 911. A message from the US
972. 33:35Department of Health and Human Services.
973. 33:40How do we handle this issue?
974. 33:41There are a lot more risky behaviors in
975. 33:44drinking or drug use that affect sexual
976. 33:46activity.
977. 33:47We might build a community. The police
978. 33:49officers make more of an attempt to talk
979. 33:50to people. They're going to be people
980. 33:51who just don't like the cops. So, when
981. 33:52we have our guns and you know what's the
982. 33:54solution?
983. 33:54Do you welcome homosexuals in your
984. 33:56church, pastor?
985. 33:57I'm never going to treat you
986. 33:58differently. Never going to put you
987. 33:59down. I'm going to say this to you
988. 34:00though. I'm not gay.
989. 34:03They're not stripping or searching or
990. 34:06frisking me.
991. 34:08Let your voice be heard radio every
992. 34:10Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 1 p.m.
993. 34:16And we are back on Let Your Voice Be
994. 34:17Heard on 90.3 FMWHCR,
995. 34:20The Voice of Harlem. And we are here
996. 34:22with Mr. Yousef of the Central Park 5.
997. 34:24And we're having a really good
998. 34:25conversation. Yousef is definitely
999. 34:26dropping some knowledge. If you have any
1000. 34:28questions or comments, you can give us a
1001. 34:30call on 212-650-6903
1002. 34:33or you can tweet us at beheard_radio.
1003. 34:36We really want to hear what everyone has
1004. 34:38to say about this. This is a really
1005. 34:39serious topic, something that we all
1006. 34:41need to be more aware of and you know,
1007. 34:42just putting bring it out there. The
1008. 34:44truth needs to be heard. So,
1009. 34:46yes. And and I'm so glad that the truth
1010. 34:48behind the Central Park 5 is being
1011. 34:51heard. Um, I think we have a call on the
1012. 34:52line, Stanley. Thank you so much for
1013. 34:53that.
1014. 34:54Thanks.
1015. 34:54Um, okay. So, one of the huge factors um
1016. 34:58in this case and something that's
1017. 34:59extremely prevalent is the fact the
1018. 35:01color and the person who was raped again
1019. 35:03she was um she lived on Upper East Side.
1020. 35:06So, class has a lot to do with it too.
1021. 35:08She was a investment banker in Wall
1022. 35:10Street and during this time that she was
1023. 35:13raped in Central Park. There was
1024. 35:15actually another woman raped. I think it
1025. 35:17was Brownsville and she was raped and
1026. 35:19thrown off the roof of her building. But
1027. 35:23where was the exactly where was the
1028. 35:25I mean I'm really glad that you brought
1029. 35:26that up Selena. Um hi Yseph this is
1030. 35:29Patricia. You know I I was listening to
1031. 35:31you know your your testament and I'm
1032. 35:34kind of floored. I'm a little bit I
1033. 35:36don't even have words to say like how
1034. 35:37much I feel for what you went through
1035. 35:40and you know as as an advocate for women
1036. 35:43that are raped. It hurts me when this
1037. 35:45situation happens. And you know, when
1038. 35:47Selena brought this up about the girl in
1039. 35:48Brownsville that was also raped at the
1040. 35:50same time and thrown off a roof and
1041. 35:51there was no media coverage. It brings
1042. 35:53me back to this. It's not so much about,
1043. 35:55oh, and it is that we target black and
1044. 35:58brown men for these horrible, horrendous
1045. 36:00crimes, but that she was a white woman.
1046. 36:03She was an Ivy League educated woman.
1047. 36:05She had all this going. It's just like,
1048. 36:07how dare they do this to this perfect
1049. 36:09individual. And I mean, I know that you
1050. 36:11say so much about it, but in your
1051. 36:13community, I know that rape happens so
1052. 36:15much to us Hispanic and black women and
1053. 36:18nothing happens to it. I mean, do you
1054. 36:20feel that you would want to advocate for
1055. 36:22these girls that nobody cares to look
1056. 36:24for their the people who commit those
1057. 36:26crimes against them?
1058. 36:27Well, you know what? I'm gonna tell you
1059. 36:29something that that that's that's crazy
1060. 36:30because it had to be light has had to be
1061. 36:32shed upon um everything that goes on
1062. 36:34that's injust when it happens to people
1063. 36:37of color and people who are not of
1064. 36:39color. I'm going to tell you the the the
1065. 36:41the wild part about this case that a lot
1066. 36:43of people um fail to realize and I'm I'm
1067. 36:45so happy that what was brought up was
1068. 36:47the fact that this was a white woman and
1069. 36:49we were people of color is the fact when
1070. 36:52they found her they took her to
1071. 36:54Metropolitan Hospital because they
1072. 36:57thought she was a Latino woman and when
1073. 37:00they figured out that she wasn't they
1074. 37:01quickly removed her from Metropolitan
1075. 37:04and placed her in a different hospital
1076. 37:06to receive the care that she got. Well,
1077. 37:07Yousef Well, Yousef, do you know this
1078. 37:09for sure or is this something like
1079. 37:10you've heard? Like, can you confirm
1080. 37:11this?
1081. 37:12This is this is this is I mean, all you
1082. 37:14got to do is go back to the um to the
1083. 37:16newspaper articles
1084. 37:18back in 1989. She was she was initially
1085. 37:20put into Metropolitan Hospital.
1086. 37:22Wow.
1087. 37:22Um the document that they used, and this
1088. 37:25is how deep this is, the document they
1089. 37:26used to um save her life was a document
1090. 37:31that was put together by my aunt.
1091. 37:35She works at Metropolitan Hospital and
1092. 37:37she created the document to be used to
1093. 37:40save people's lives in situations of
1094. 37:42trauma like that.
1095. 37:43What do you what do you mean by document
1096. 37:44use? I'm I'm
1097. 37:45I mean the protocol I mean the protocol
1098. 37:47for rape victim
1099. 37:49okay
1100. 37:49someone someone is assaulted
1101. 37:51they have to figure out what's the best
1102. 37:53method. So like they have hospitals that
1103. 37:55are great hospitals that they will only
1104. 37:57take let's say these are shooting
1105. 37:58victims to Lincoln Hospital for one. If
1106. 38:01you get shot the best hospital for you
1107. 38:02to go to is Lincoln Hospital.
1108. 38:05Second after that probably Harlem
1109. 38:06Hospital.
1110. 38:07Sexual assault victims have there's
1111. 38:08units and they have rooms and they have
1112. 38:10medical expertise in center hospitals
1113. 38:12and if a woman is found like that will
1114. 38:14take to the hospital. Clearly they
1115. 38:15didn't know that she was white and they
1116. 38:16took her to
1117. 38:17definitely. Um so we have actually have
1118. 38:19a caller on the line. Her name is Excuse
1119. 38:22me. His name is Ujima. Well, that's kind
1120. 38:24of like a unisex name. It
1121. 38:25It is.
1122. 38:26And um Eugima, let your voice be heard.
1123. 38:29Do you have a comment or question?
1124. 38:31Uh well, certainly. Uh first of all,
1125. 38:33asalamaikum, brother, sir.
1126. 38:35Salam.
1127. 38:35And how are you doing?
1128. 38:37I'm definitely doing great.
1129. 38:39Okay. Yes. I just wanted to uh commend
1130. 38:41you and um all the other uh members of
1131. 38:43the um quote unquote Central Park 5 for
1132. 38:46um
1133. 38:48um putting in perspective what has
1134. 38:50happened uh not only in in your case but
1135. 38:53to uh a lot of our people both black and
1136. 38:56Hispanic um in this country and uh
1137. 39:01reminding us of our obligation and our
1138. 39:03responsibility
1139. 39:05to be what we've always been as as a
1140. 39:08people be conscious
1141. 39:09of America and um and I cannot help but
1142. 39:14uh remember the situation with the
1143. 39:16Scottsboro boys and you know how that
1144. 39:19relates to this case as well as it seems
1145. 39:22like every time we turn around
1146. 39:23there's uh another case and another
1147. 39:26situation that we're going through as
1148. 39:29people and we have to
1149. 39:31um do what you're doing and you know
1150. 39:34stay on the case, keep informing the
1151. 39:37people
1152. 39:38and get involved.
1153. 39:40Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, everyone
1154. 39:42always said back in back in uh back when
1155. 39:44the Scottsboro boys came and they, you
1156. 39:46know, never again will we would we do
1157. 39:48something like this, but we are the
1158. 39:49modern day Scottsboro boys. You look at
1159. 39:51this this thing with Trayvon Martin down
1160. 39:53in Florida and it's like outrageous that
1161. 39:55you would think that uh someone would
1162. 39:56hunt someone down, especially after
1163. 39:59they're on the phone with the police
1164. 40:00officers and the police officers are
1165. 40:01telling them, "Don't follow this man or
1166. 40:04don't follow this boy. Leave him alone.
1167. 40:06We will be there." and this guy kills
1168. 40:08him based on some stand your ground
1169. 40:10laws. And then right after that,
1170. 40:12somebody's playing music in their car
1171. 40:14regardless of whether it was loud or not
1172. 40:16and is assaulted by a man
1173. 40:19because uh he feels like he can and he
1174. 40:22shoots them in the carav.
1175. 40:25Yes.
1176. 40:26You see what I'm saying? I mean, this
1177. 40:27stuff is like a neverending story. But
1178. 40:29one of the things that I want to speak
1179. 40:30about too as well is like what the what
1180. 40:32the uh what the brother said on the on
1181. 40:34the phone about this obligation that we
1182. 40:36have. I mean, you know, going to prison
1183. 40:39taught me so much. You know, here we had
1184. 40:42uh time to read, time to educate
1185. 40:44ourselves, and time to to grow. And one
1186. 40:47of the things that um was so powerful
1187. 40:49was reading the autobiography of Malcolm
1188. 40:51X. You know, he he really drove home for
1189. 40:54me the reality a lot of people face in
1190. 40:57the community. I mean, we're given the
1191. 41:00the worst end of the stick, but the the
1192. 41:03worst part about it is that we don't
1193. 41:05realize that if we are doing, let's say,
1194. 41:08wrong things in the community. Let's say
1195. 41:09we're out there selling drugs or we're
1196. 41:11out there pimping women or we're out
1197. 41:12there uh taking one kind of drug and
1198. 41:15mixing it with something to make another
1199. 41:17kind of drug. You know what I'm saying?
1200. 41:18We don't realize that it's because of
1201. 41:20the lack of education and information we
1202. 41:23have that we can't be those chemists,
1203. 41:28those managers, those those people that
1204. 41:31organize the community because we've
1205. 41:33been told that we can't be that. We've
1206. 41:34been we we we've been we've been given a
1207. 41:37limitation on the information that we
1208. 41:40put into our brains. You know,
1209. 41:42especially when Malcolm said that when
1210. 41:43he was in elementary school, he told uh
1211. 41:45the the teacher something like he wanted
1212. 41:48to be um a lawyer or something like
1213. 41:49that. I forget the exact uh profession
1214. 41:51that he wanted to go.
1215. 41:52And the teacher said, "Oh, no, no, no.
1216. 41:54You would be better doing this."
1217. 41:57You know what I'm saying? And that's how
1218. 41:58we're treated in the communities. We're
1219. 41:59not given
1220. 42:02not enough people are telling us who and
1221. 42:05what we can be even in light of the fact
1222. 42:07that we have a black president. We have
1223. 42:09to understand that this is a semblance
1224. 42:12of what we can be. But if no one is
1225. 42:15telling us that we can aspire to be the
1226. 42:17same, then we will not reach out there
1227. 42:20and try to make it happen.
1228. 42:21Very true.
1229. 42:22We have we have to say, you know what,
1230. 42:25let me tell you something that's wild
1231. 42:26about this. So back in 1989, back in
1232. 42:291990, maybe even probably 1987,
1233. 42:32styles and culture really don't change.
1234. 42:35I was one of those young guys who used
1235. 42:36to walk walk around with my pants
1236. 42:38sagging, you know, and I was about that
1237. 42:41skinny as you can see me on the TV. I
1238. 42:42was very very slim, you know, but I was
1239. 42:44about 6'3 back then. This elder, this is
1240. 42:48how this is why we have to continue to
1241. 42:50tell people the truth. An elder in the
1242. 42:53community said to me, "Did you see
1243. 42:55yourself when you walked out of the
1244. 42:56house this morning?"
1245. 42:58Wow.
1246. 42:58And I'm like, man, this guy don't know
1247. 42:59what he talking about. I'm I'm hip. He
1248. 43:01don't He don't He's a old fogy. He don't
1249. 43:02know what he talking about, you know?
1250. 43:04And um I kind of like just brushed him
1251. 43:06off, but as soon as he walked away, I
1252. 43:08looked at one of those mirrors on 125th
1253. 43:11Street and I looked crazy.
1254. 43:14I said, "Wow, I look really bugged out."
1255. 43:17You know, I never wore my pants like
1256. 43:19that again. People always say people are
1257. 43:22not judged like the you shouldn't judge
1258. 43:25a book by its cover. Everyone
1259. 43:28judges.
1260. 43:28Everyone judges based on what they see.
1261. 43:31you see somebody walking down the street
1262. 43:33and things don't look right, you will
1263. 43:35cross the street.
1264. 43:36You're absolutely right.
1265. 43:37You know what I'm saying? Or if you in
1266. 43:38the hood and you see something that
1267. 43:40looks a little strange, I guarantee you
1268. 43:42the brothers know what I'm talking
1269. 43:43about. We going to bop a little harder.
1270. 43:46We going to make them know like, hey, if
1271. 43:47it goes down over here, you know, it's
1272. 43:49going to be a real hard one. You know
1273. 43:50about that.
1274. 43:51A lot of that is we're putting that
1275. 43:52energy out there. And we have to also
1276. 43:54understand that we can change our
1277. 43:55realities by putting the positive energy
1278. 43:58out there, putting worthy energy out
1279. 44:01there. Just like I think um what it may
1280. 44:03have been uh the great Faracan or or or
1281. 44:06Reverend Al Shoutton
1282. 44:08during the state of black America that
1283. 44:10when you look in a mirror, the mirror
1284. 44:13should also reflect what you see, but
1285. 44:16you should also be able to correct what
1286. 44:18you see.
1287. 44:19Yes. I Al Sharpton said that. I remember
1288. 44:21that quote that he said, don't just wake
1289. 44:23when you wake up in the morning, you fix
1290. 44:24yourself up. And that's what we need to
1291. 44:25do as a community.
1292. 44:26Yeah. Yousef, speaking of fixing oursel
1293. 44:28up, we have a lot of listeners who are,
1294. 44:30you know, between the ages of, you know,
1295. 44:3118 to 29, 30 and who don't necess who
1296. 44:35aren't necessarily on the right path or
1297. 44:36don't know where they're going. And I
1298. 44:37really want you to take out a moment to
1299. 44:39tell us about your experience in jail.
1300. 44:41Jail is not a joke. Give it like very
1301. 44:44briefly tell us my experience while
1302. 44:45while locked up. I'mma tell you, man,
1303. 44:49it's hard for me to to go back and to
1304. 44:51really really give people vivid
1305. 44:54experiences of jail because, you know,
1306. 44:56what you're saying is so true, but I
1307. 44:59want to say this and I'm going try to
1308. 45:00speak to it. What I want to say is you
1309. 45:03cannot go to jail and run the jail. A
1310. 45:07lot of people have this false notion
1311. 45:09that they going to be running to prison.
1312. 45:11They think prison is a badge of honor.
1313. 45:13They think to go to jail means that you
1314. 45:15got a stripe under your belt. And that's
1315. 45:17one of the reasons why they give us so
1316. 45:20like they give us high fives because
1317. 45:22initially it was like, man, these guys
1318. 45:23went to prison and they was 15 and 16
1319. 45:26and 14 and they came home and they still
1320. 45:29able to stand up straight. Listen, it's
1321. 45:31not about that. When you go to jail, you
1322. 45:34will not be able to see what you want to
1323. 45:36see, do what you want to do, be what you
1324. 45:39want to be, hug who you want to hug, go
1325. 45:41outside when you want to go outside. You
1326. 45:43will not be able to do anything. You
1327. 45:46will be under the control of the man.
1328. 45:50And we all know who the man is when they
1329. 45:51talk about the man. You know, when I got
1330. 45:54to jail, I was in Clinton Danamora when
1331. 45:56they sent me upstate. I was in a prison
1332. 45:59where they had officers that had tattoos
1333. 46:01on their arms of little black babies
1334. 46:04with nooes around their neck. You got to
1335. 46:06understand the reality of that. These
1336. 46:09people will kill you. You know what I'm
1337. 46:11saying? These people would put stuff in
1338. 46:13your food to cause your demise. These
1339. 46:16people would cause all kind of other
1340. 46:18stuff that happened. These people will
1341. 46:19let people rape you in jail.
1342. 46:22Everything that goes down goes down
1343. 46:24because they allow it. If they tell you,
1344. 46:26"Hey, you got five minutes." When Cory
1345. 46:28Wise and and and Michael Brisco first
1346. 46:31went to Ruckers Island, I'm sure the
1347. 46:33officers told the inmates, "Y'all got
1348. 46:36five minutes to do to them whatever
1349. 46:37y'all want to do. But after the five
1350. 46:39minutes is up, you know, legally we have
1351. 46:41to sound the alarm and and stop it. But
1352. 46:44y'all got five minutes. And they beat
1353. 46:46the crap out of them.
1354. 46:47You know what I'm saying?
1355. 46:49They beat the crap out of us.
1356. 46:51Yes. And this is such a traumatic
1357. 46:53experience, but I'm so glad that Stanley
1358. 46:55brought that up. And I'm so glad that
1359. 46:57hopefully, and I know that some young
1360. 46:59brothers can learn from this and just
1361. 47:01see, like you said, the harsh realities
1362. 47:03of institutionalized racism, of
1363. 47:05classism, of these social ills and how
1364. 47:07it disproportionately affects and hurts
1365. 47:10black and brown minorities. But with our
1366. 47:12voice, with our platform, with the
1367. 47:14Central Park 5 documentary, we can fight
1368. 47:17and and achieve and and and have make
1369. 47:19sure that the next generation uh growing
1370. 47:22up is doing better and is aware and is
1371. 47:24empowered with the tools in order to
1372. 47:26fight back. Um, one of the last
1373. 47:28questions I want to just um ask you,
1374. 47:30Yousef, is I know that you and the other
1375. 47:33four exonerated men have filed a class
1376. 47:35action lawsuit against the city of New
1377. 47:37York. So, I I want to know what type of
1378. 47:40justice are you demanding now? What type
1379. 47:42of retribution? Um, do you want are you
1380. 47:44looking for apology besides just a class
1381. 47:46action lawsuit? Um, do you want an
1382. 47:48apology from Donald Trump and other
1383. 47:50people? And do you think that you will
1384. 47:52be able to receive this justice? I mean,
1385. 47:54the first time the truth came out, now
1386. 47:57this is like, you know, the second time
1387. 47:58around. What is it that you want and you
1388. 48:01think you deserve?
1389. 48:02Yeah. You got to understand too um the
1390. 48:05first time the truth came out it was it
1391. 48:07came out around the same time that uh
1392. 48:08Trisha Millie had wrote her book and and
1393. 48:10released the book to the public.
1394. 48:12Um for the first time people knew her
1395. 48:13name.
1396. 48:14And you got to understand as well that
1397. 48:16for 13 years I mean this this the truth
1398. 48:19came out 13 years later which is
1399. 48:21supposed to be an unlucky number for
1400. 48:22most people in this country. But 13
1401. 48:25years later, the truth comes out. And
1402. 48:27for 13 years, Patricia Miley had been
1403. 48:31told that we were the ones that
1404. 48:32assaulted her.
1405. 48:34There are so many victims in this trial
1406. 48:37and in this case. She was victimized in
1407. 48:40the worst way because she was violated
1408. 48:42sexually, but she was also continuously
1409. 48:44victimized by telling by people telling
1410. 48:47her the wrong thing, the wrong
1411. 48:49information and her believing it. you
1412. 48:52know, she has absolutely no memory of
1413. 48:54what happened to her. But the reality is
1414. 48:56that if you're told this is the missing
1415. 48:59information, the missing gap of what you
1416. 49:00need, you're going to believe that. You
1417. 49:03know, I mean, for us, we filed a class
1418. 49:06we we filed our lawsuits. Um, we we hope
1419. 49:11as so many right now are are apologizing
1420. 49:14to us, which is great and tremendous for
1421. 49:16us. It causes us to heal, but at the
1422. 49:18same time, we know people like Donald
1423. 49:20Trump ain't going to apologize to us.
1424. 49:22You know what I'm saying? We can't even
1425. 49:24name him in our lawsuit. Our lawsuit
1426. 49:26should include him, but we would have
1427. 49:27had to file lawsuits against him back in
1428. 49:301989 for defamation of character.
1429. 49:32I just want to clarify because Donald
1430. 49:34Trump took out ads in um different
1431. 49:36newspapers calling for the death penalty
1432. 49:39surrounding this case. And that's what
1433. 49:41you're speaking about, right, Yousef?
1434. 49:43Yes, indeed. Yes, indeed. And and the
1435. 49:44other thing that I wanted to bring out
1436. 49:46also just in in light of us being wise
1437. 49:49in the community is that we need and
1438. 49:52this is something that we advocate for.
1439. 49:54We need to be able to understand what
1440. 49:58law is and how we can apply law. Because
1441. 50:01when you have policies like stop and
1442. 50:03frisk, when you have things like first
1443. 50:05of all, they they're not officers are
1444. 50:07not allowed to search you illegally
1445. 50:11unless they have a warrant. And so if
1446. 50:13they come up to you and they tell you,
1447. 50:14even if you have something illegal in
1448. 50:16your pocket, what you you know, what do
1449. 50:18you got in your pocket? Don't let me
1450. 50:20find it. You better take it out now and
1451. 50:22and and it'll be I'll be easier on you
1452. 50:24if you take it out. They don't have the
1453. 50:26right to go into your pocket in the
1454. 50:27first place. But see, if we don't know
1455. 50:29the law, like I said many times in my
1456. 50:32Q&As's, you know, I was in LA the other
1457. 50:34the last last month and I told the
1458. 50:36people in LA, many New Yorkers would
1459. 50:39argue that you are not a New Yorker
1460. 50:41unless you know about jaywalking. You
1461. 50:42jaywalk, that's that's a part of being a
1462. 50:44New Yorker. And so the guy kind of
1463. 50:46leaned over and said, "Man, you know, in
1464. 50:47LA, they give you real tickets for
1465. 50:49that."
1466. 50:49Wow. Really?
1467. 50:50You know, and I said, "Wow, I didn't
1468. 50:51know that. I know it's illegal in New
1469. 50:53York City, but most people would argue
1470. 50:55that they don't know that jaywalking is
1471. 50:57illegal." Yeah,
1472. 50:59people jaywalk all the time, but it's
1473. 51:00illegal. We don't know simple law. We
1474. 51:03don't know simple things, but we are
1475. 51:05always the ones who are on the other
1476. 51:07side of the stick when the law is being
1477. 51:10applied to us.
1478. 51:11That is that is so true, Yousef. Um,
1479. 51:15thank you so much for joining us here on
1480. 51:17Let Your Voice Be Heard. We do have to
1481. 51:18wrap up this discussion. Um, again, we
1482. 51:21were speaking to Yousef Salam. He was
1483. 51:23one of the exonerated of the Central
1484. 51:24Park 5. But let's we learned so much
1485. 51:27here up here at the studio. And I know
1486. 51:29that you guys um you learned too. Thank
1487. 51:31you for the callers. Thank you for the
1488. 51:32tweets. This is about empowerment. This
1489. 51:34is about education. This is about using
1490. 51:36what we know and how people are
1491. 51:38victimized in certain communities and
1492. 51:40certain demographics to empower
1493. 51:42ourselves to rise above and to to
1494. 51:45basically collectively fight against,
1495. 51:47you know, fight the good fight. This is
1496. 51:48about justice. To this day, Yousef and
1497. 51:51the other Central Park Five have not
1498. 51:53received the justice or retribution, the
1499. 51:54apologies that they deserve after giving
1500. 51:57up their teen years and going through
1501. 51:59such a traumatic experience that
1502. 52:01affected the rest of their lives. Of
1503. 52:02course, the victim um Trisha, she you
1504. 52:05know, our hearts go out to her as well.
1505. 52:06We're glad that she made a recovery. I
1506. 52:09think she made like a full recovery um
1507. 52:10from that. But Yousef made a great
1508. 52:12point. She was still being victimized
1509. 52:14cuz she was still being told that these
1510. 52:16five boys are the people that raped you.
1511. 52:18Exactly. If a woman cannot remember what
1512. 52:20occurred to her, you can't make her say
1513. 52:21that she did something. She doesn't
1514. 52:23remember. That's it. End the story. All
1515. 52:25she the testimony is what's on her body,
1516. 52:26not what she can say.
1517. 52:28That's and and and thank you so much.
1518. 52:30So, we do have to, you know, we just
1519. 52:32wrapped up. We have to go to a break. Um
1520. 52:34this is let your voice be heard again.
1521. 52:36Thank you so much, Yousef. Everyone has
1522. 52:37listening. Keep tuning in. We have more.
1523. 52:39We're coming back with a news roundup as
1524. 52:41well as we're going to be talking about
1525. 52:42raising our boys. That means
1526. 52:44masculinity, manhood in America. So,
1527. 52:46stay tuned.
1528. 52:48too low.