In 1989, I was 7yrs old. All I knew at that age was violence. Violence was all around...
People Fighting in the street, shootings and stabbings.
There were no white people where I lived in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn NY. Just blacks and other minorities. So most of the people I saw committing the violence were young black and Hispanic men.
Growing up in this atmosphere made me believe this is what made you a man. Displaying acts of violence showed that you were tough and made people respect you.
In 1989, a white woman was beat to a bloody pulp and raped in Central Park, which is in Manhattan. At that time I'd only been to that park once in my life. I just knew it was big, nice and not in the hood.
This story of this lady being raped in the park was the biggest news story I've ever seen at 7yrs old. It was on the news constantly, on every newspaper and every grown up was talking about it.
They had 5 young minorities in custody for the beating and rape (4 black males and 1 latino male).
The news and everybody hated these men. These guys were the scum of the Earth.
Even in the hood, black folks were happy when they were caught and showed no sympathy for them.
The media started using a word that they said came from the confession of one of the perpetrators... "Wilding" (Like "Wildin' Out", but white people were pronouncing it correctly)
As a 7yr old, I ended up hating them too. For some reason, I was ok with the violence in my own neighborhood, but the fact that they took it out to Manhattan on a white women, using our slang and making us look bad in front of the whole world, made it worse to me.
Once they had them guys in custody and locked them up, everybody just went on with their lives.
Whites were happy, blacks didnt care.
Nobody cared about evidence, statements, police reports, nothing.
The media told us these dudes were monsters and that was it... case closed.
Around 5yrs ago, almost 25yrs after the incident... just doing random Google searches, I find out that these young men were actually innocent. Some guy confessed but this is after some of the Central Park 5 spent around 12yrs in prison.
5yrs ago, is when I realized that I had been living in a world that is an illusion. A world were the media created narratives and passes it off as news. A world where people dnt question information that is told to them. For me, that era was the start of Media working hand and hand with law enforcement to get convictions by swaying public opinion in their favor.
Can you imagine being prosecuted for a crime you didnt commit, but the entire world thinks you didnt it, even your own people.
Sitting in jail, being treated like shyt, being assaulted and violated... with no hope of being set free ...
Damn, this was one of the saddest stories that I've ever seen. And i lived thru this time.
Donald Trump even put out a Big ass add in the paper wanting to bring back the death penalty for these young men.
To find out these boys were actually innocent was the biggest gut punch ever. Not Because I thought they were guilty. I was just a kid. I didnt know shyt...
It was a gut punch because I FORGOT ABOUT THEM.
I left them to rot in my memory... smh
The Netflix movie series is called "When They See Us"
I don't even know if I have the heart to watch it.
But you should...
People Fighting in the street, shootings and stabbings.
There were no white people where I lived in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn NY. Just blacks and other minorities. So most of the people I saw committing the violence were young black and Hispanic men.
Growing up in this atmosphere made me believe this is what made you a man. Displaying acts of violence showed that you were tough and made people respect you.
In 1989, a white woman was beat to a bloody pulp and raped in Central Park, which is in Manhattan. At that time I'd only been to that park once in my life. I just knew it was big, nice and not in the hood.
This story of this lady being raped in the park was the biggest news story I've ever seen at 7yrs old. It was on the news constantly, on every newspaper and every grown up was talking about it.
They had 5 young minorities in custody for the beating and rape (4 black males and 1 latino male).
The news and everybody hated these men. These guys were the scum of the Earth.
Even in the hood, black folks were happy when they were caught and showed no sympathy for them.
The media started using a word that they said came from the confession of one of the perpetrators... "Wilding" (Like "Wildin' Out", but white people were pronouncing it correctly)
As a 7yr old, I ended up hating them too. For some reason, I was ok with the violence in my own neighborhood, but the fact that they took it out to Manhattan on a white women, using our slang and making us look bad in front of the whole world, made it worse to me.
Once they had them guys in custody and locked them up, everybody just went on with their lives.
Whites were happy, blacks didnt care.
Nobody cared about evidence, statements, police reports, nothing.
The media told us these dudes were monsters and that was it... case closed.
Around 5yrs ago, almost 25yrs after the incident... just doing random Google searches, I find out that these young men were actually innocent. Some guy confessed but this is after some of the Central Park 5 spent around 12yrs in prison.
5yrs ago, is when I realized that I had been living in a world that is an illusion. A world were the media created narratives and passes it off as news. A world where people dnt question information that is told to them. For me, that era was the start of Media working hand and hand with law enforcement to get convictions by swaying public opinion in their favor.
Can you imagine being prosecuted for a crime you didnt commit, but the entire world thinks you didnt it, even your own people.
Sitting in jail, being treated like shyt, being assaulted and violated... with no hope of being set free ...
Damn, this was one of the saddest stories that I've ever seen. And i lived thru this time.
Donald Trump even put out a Big ass add in the paper wanting to bring back the death penalty for these young men.
To find out these boys were actually innocent was the biggest gut punch ever. Not Because I thought they were guilty. I was just a kid. I didnt know shyt...
It was a gut punch because I FORGOT ABOUT THEM.
I left them to rot in my memory... smh
The Netflix movie series is called "When They See Us"
I don't even know if I have the heart to watch it.
But you should...