Gate of the Rehabilitated: Central Park Gate honors five teens wrongfully convicted of rape



CNN

New York opened the “Gates of the Rehabilitated” in Central Park on Monday in honor of a group of black and Hispanic teenagers known as the “Central Park Five” who were wrongly convicted about the beating and rape of a white jogger in the park over 30 years ago.

Corey Wise, Antron McCray, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson and Yousef Salaam – members of the group also known as the Rehabilitated Five – each served several years in prison before being rehabilitated in 2002.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams reflected on the historic moment and handed over the keys to the city to five rehabilitated people.

“History has the ability to rewrite the lines,” he said.

Community members who attended the opening

Adams, a police officer at the time, said “It was a tough time to work in this department with a hundred black people in law enforcement who care to stand up and fight for these brothers.”

“We knew that what happened to them was wrong and we refuse to remain silent,” he added.

“Five rehabilitated is the story of an American black boy,” he said, adding: “They stood firm, they stood high.”

Adams said the Department of Energy should organize school field trips to talk about what happened.

“I think that all our youths and boys, the Board of Education. Chancellor Banks, we need to have school trips to tell this story, because as time goes by, we feel there was no real struggle to get to where we are now, and we are losing historical moments that took place. ‘ said the mayor. . “That’s why it’s so important.”

The gates were opened near Central Park North, between 5th Avenue and Malcolm X Boulevard.

The 110th Street entrance now has the “Gate of the Rehabilitated” sign on the perimeter wall. It has a historical plaque with background information about the name of the entrance and a QR code with a link to online resources.

Earlier this year, the New York City Public Design Commission unanimously approved the project.

The unanimous vote is the fruit of years of work “with the Harlem community and Manhattan Community Council 10 to honor the rehabilitated five and all those wrongfully convicted of crimes,” a spokesman for the Central Park Conservancy said in a statement earlier this year.

In 2014, the city settled a lawsuit with five men who were teenagers at the time of the crime and were forced to confess to the assault amid public outrage over race.

The identity of the runner, Trish Meili, has been under wraps for more than a decade.