Yusef Salaam, member of Central Park Five, on journey from wrongful conviction to NYC Council race — Transcript

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1. 0:00we're going to begin this hour with an
2. 0:01exonerated member of the so-called
3. 0:03Central Park five we all remember this
4. 0:05case was expected to join the New York
5. 0:08City Council after his first run for
6. 0:10office in 1989 Youssef Salam was 15
7. 0:13years old when he was wrongly convicted
8. 0:15along with four black and Latino teenage
9. 0:18boys of the brutal rape of a jogger in
10. 0:21New York City's Central Park in 2002
11. 0:23their convictions were overturned by DNA
12. 0:26evidence and they became known as the
13. 0:28exonerated five Salam served nearly
14. 0:30seven years behind bars for a crime he
15. 0:32did not commit and now two decades after
16. 0:35he was exonerated Mr Salam is declaring
17. 0:38victory in his run for New York City
18. 0:39Council while he waits for the primary
19. 0:41race to be officially called he's a
20. 0:44Criminal Justice Reform Advocate and
21. 0:45works with the Innocence Project we're
22. 0:47happy to say that right now Yusuf salaam
23. 0:49joins us at the table good morning to
24. 0:51you good morning Yusuf salaam my
25. 0:53pleasure the official final count is
26. 0:55today we will know certainly by the end
27. 0:57of the day but it looks very good for
28. 0:59you oh yes and you say oh yes oh yes you
29. 1:02said what has happened in this campaign
30. 1:04has restored your faith in knowing that
31. 1:06you were born for this and this is a
32. 1:07line that got me you said every single
33. 1:10thing that happens to you happens for
34. 1:12you yes what do you mean by that
35. 1:14considering what you have been through
36. 1:15you know it's the reality of being able
37. 1:18to look back and say
38. 1:19man that two by four that hit me
39. 1:21[Music]
40. 1:23allow me to develop to develop
41. 1:25peripheral vision had it not happened I
42. 1:27wouldn't have been aware that the rug
43. 1:30could be pulled out from underneath your
44. 1:32feet that a lot of us are waiting to
45. 1:34live life and God gave us permission to
46. 1:36live life and a lot of us are kind of
47. 1:38playing this double dutch of when do I
48. 1:40jump and when do I jump in the time to
49. 1:42jump in is now
50. 1:43and so
51. 1:44when things happen to you the best thing
52. 1:46that you can do is just say to yourself
53. 1:49this is for me you know this is
54. 1:51developing me this is this is altering
55. 1:53me like right now I get the opportunity
56. 1:55to reflect light in the most darkest
57. 1:58places around the world but had you
58. 2:00always thought about getting into
59. 2:01politics when did this happen for you
60. 2:03you know early on I read the story of
61. 2:06Joseph in the Bible in the Quran and
62. 2:09finding out that this individual was
63. 2:11accused of a crime he didn't commit the
64. 2:13crime was rape and that he went to
65. 2:15prison and he came out and became the
66. 2:17greatest Statesman in Egypt I was
67. 2:19inspired by that story because I was
68. 2:21named after that prophet and so of
69. 2:23course for me I was like
70. 2:25at 15 and 16 is it possible but then it
71. 2:28you know it kind of was swept under the
72. 2:30rug until 2002 when we were found
73. 2:33innocent but there are still people
74. 2:34sitting here today Yousaf you know this
75. 2:36who don't believe that you should be out
76. 2:39of prison that you know the words are
77. 2:40well they certainly must have done
78. 2:42something that night there's still
79. 2:44people who believe that about you
80. 2:46you know you'll you'll always get judged
81. 2:48by the color of your skin and not the
82. 2:50content of your character
83. 2:52and unfortunately in the black and brown
84. 2:53Community when they look at us and they
85. 2:55say to us you're guilty until you're
86. 2:58proven innocent I mean the law says
87. 3:00innocent until proven guilty yes but in
88. 3:02our communities you're seen as guilty
89. 3:04and the system is just going to play
90. 3:07itself out and you'll be able to get all
91. 3:10the time that you're supposed to get and
92. 3:12in our case it was like we didn't do it
93. 3:15right and not only did we do it because
94. 3:17they got stuck with the LIE there was a
95. 3:20young woman who could have been alive
96. 3:21today if the system said you know what
97. 3:23something is wrong with this case let's
98. 3:25let's take a step back and reevaluate
99. 3:27everything but they got stuck with us
100. 3:30being the culprits allowing for the real
101. 3:32criminal to ultimately murder one of his
102. 3:35last victims and speaking of
103. 3:37um the system and being wrongfully
104. 3:39imprisoned
105. 3:40for most people going through a dark
106. 3:42time like that they will come out on the
107. 3:44other end and say you know what I'm
108. 3:45through with the system I'm through with
109. 3:47the police officers I'm through with the
110. 3:48NYPD
111. 3:50that's not the approach you're taking
112. 3:52um you you talk about that two by four
113. 3:54hitting you and allowing you to have
114. 3:55that peripheral vision what is your
115. 3:57vision showing you and what you want to
116. 3:59see in police officers nowadays I got to
117. 4:03tell you I've had so many
118. 4:04um
119. 4:05profoundly impactful experiences with
120. 4:09police officers
121. 4:10and people who want to you're talking
122. 4:12positive it's positive very very
123. 4:14positive righteous actors is what I call
124. 4:17them I met a young girl she was 13 years
125. 4:20old and um
126. 4:22she stood up in an audience and said you
127. 4:24know Yousef I want to become a cop what
128. 4:25advice can you give me I'm a Cadet I
129. 4:28want to become a cop and my first
130. 4:30thought was to tell her to run but then
131. 4:32I realized that I wasn't talking to a
132. 4:34cop
133. 4:35I was talking to a future guardian of
134. 4:38society and I got the opportunity to
135. 4:41give her my best advice telling her that
136. 4:43on the side of police cars throughout
137. 4:44the nation you see the words to Serve
138. 4:46and Protect that in New York City they
139. 4:48go A Step Above and Beyond adding the
140. 4:50words courtesy professionalism and
141. 4:52respect
142. 4:53and so for me it's like if this person
143. 4:58who has found their purpose
144. 5:00can understand that she is a guardian
145. 5:03for society right that's a different
146. 5:05type I want to I want that type of
147. 5:07person to guard me I want that person to
148. 5:09be out there saying you know what I am
149. 5:12to protect and serve all right it's
150. 5:14important Mr slam too an issue that New
151. 5:18Yorkers are dealing with but people in
152. 5:19cities across the country are dealing
153. 5:20with that's gun violence uh here in this
154. 5:22city gun violence has declined somewhat
155. 5:25is going in the right direction at least
156. 5:26the numbers are however the age of the
157. 5:29shooter and the victim seems to be lower
158. 5:31than ever what do you make of that
159. 5:34what I make of that is that we have been
160. 5:37given such a devaluation of life
161. 5:41that if I can't even see the humanity in
162. 5:44you
163. 5:45I was raised as a child to see every
164. 5:48single man as if he could be my father
165. 5:50my brother or my son and every single
166. 5:53woman as if she could be my mother my
167. 5:56sister or my daughter automatically that
168. 5:58level sets the type of respect that I am
169. 6:01supposed to give and therefore be given
170. 6:03and the fact of the matter is that when
171. 6:05we look at what's going on in our
172. 6:07communities when you have poverty and
173. 6:09abject poverty if you will you have this
174. 6:12sense of hopelessness the fact that
175. 6:13people are seeing things like George
176. 6:15Floyd get murdered or Brianna Taylor get
177. 6:17murdered you know in their minds is this
178. 6:20idea that tomorrow is not promised and
179. 6:23so therefore I have to live as
180. 6:25recklessly as possible and in that
181. 6:28recklessness
182. 6:29young people are are exposed to
183. 6:31everything my children I have children
184. 6:33that are as young as seven years old
185. 6:34they see everything you can't Shield
186. 6:36them from the world and in their
187. 6:39response they think that oh this is just
188. 6:42you know to take another person's life
189. 6:44is not it doesn't mean yeah yeah they
190. 6:48don't see that it Alters everything that
191. 6:50ripples into the future of course how we
192. 6:52are as a people yeah which is why we
193. 6:55have to continue to lead the way
194. 6:56absolutely you know my my website that I
195. 6:58lay out my whole platform really kind of
196. 7:02tries to give up people the perspective
197. 7:05of what it's all about and what's the
198. 7:07website harlemforusup.com there it is
199. 7:09right there yes thank you so much we
200. 7:11appreciate you for joining us