Dear MoveOn member,
In 1989, five Black and Latino teenage boys—Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Antron McCray, Korey Wise, and Yusef Salaam—were wrongly convicted of attempted murder, rape, assault, and rioting due to racism in the New York City criminal legal system. Throughout their trial and incarceration, the teenagers pleaded not guilty and maintained their innocence.
It wasn't until 13 years later that the truth would come out, that these five children were unjustly convicted, their childhood robbed, and the course of their lives completely changed.1
In 2002, a judge overturned the sentences for the falsely convicted men, often referred to as the Central Park Five but who now call themselves the Exonerated Five. But that didn't stop Trump during the presidential debate last month from spreading lies about these innocent men on a national stage.
Back in 1989, Trump—then just a real estate developer who was trying to make his soon-to-be-bankrupt casinos and airline take off—took out $85,000 in ads referencing the Central Park assault and stating "BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY."2,3 The widely circulated ads and open letter Trump wrote inflamed the already-charged environment, negatively shaping public opinion about the five children.
And, not surprisingly, Trump never apologized for his role in stoking the flames and contributing to the hostile environment that the Exonerated Five were prosecuted under—and even worse, he has doubled down over the years.
In fact, when Richardson, Santana, McCray, Wise, and Salaam—falsely arrested, incarcerated, and ostracized—finally won a settlement with New York City for $41 million after their exoneration, Trump called the deal a "disgrace."4
Then, after a documentary came out about the Exonerated Five in 2012, Trump tweeted, saying that the film didn't go into the "horrific crimes" the boys committed. In 2016, he doubled down AGAIN by falsely insisting that the boys admitted guilt during a CNN interview ahead of the election.5 And again in 2019, Trump refused to apologize for his words and actions.6
Trump was wrong then. And he is wrong now. We can't allow him to continue to use his now even bigger platform to continue to harass and defame innocent people. We have to stand up for Richardson, Santana, McCray, Wise, and Salaam—the way they deserved to have people stand up for them 35 years ago.
Trump exploited the fear people were feeling for his own gain and notoriety at the expense of the Exonerated Five and Black and Latinx communities back in 1989—and he is still doing it today. It's an awful but all-too-common part of Trump's playbook to use racism to stoke fear and division among Americans, using hateful rhetoric throughout his campaigning and presidency to incite his most extreme base.
Politico just released an analysis of Trump's recent campaign rallies—and he has dehumanized people of color and immigrants at every single one.7 He uses language to exploit people's worst fears and conspiracy theories. To turn people against their Black and brown neighbors. And this abhorrent rhetoric is only escalating. The language Trump uses is terrifyingly similar to what he used 35 years ago—calling people "blood thirsty criminals" and the "most violent people on earth."8 Enough is enough.
Racism in our criminal legal system already robbed the Exonerated Five of their childhood, stole years of their lives, and caused irreparable damage.
Now Trump is making it harder for them to move forward with their lives.
Instead of apologizing for his role in fanning the flames of fear, division, and racism over the past three decades, Trump has not only doubled down on his attacks against the Exonerated Five but also intensified his dehumanizing and toxic rhetoric to attack Black and Latinx communities, immigrants, and marginalized communities across the country—putting their lives, freedoms, and futures in literal danger.
It's not a coincidence that reports of hate crimes have gone up since Trump was president.9 It's clear that Trump is not going to stop on his own. But together, we can hold him responsible—for both his words and his actions.
Thanks for all you do.
–Aliya, Julia, Ankur, Toni, and the rest of the team
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