City Councilman Yusef Salaam slammed former President Donald Trump on the final night of the Democratic National Convention for wrongly calling for his execution in the Central Park jogger case.
The member of the so-called Exonerated Five, who were falsely accused of the infamous 1989 rape, said Trump’s refusal to apologize or retract his calls for his execution show he has hate in his heart.
“Forty-five wanted us un-alive,” Salaam said Thursday night, referring to Trump, the 45th president. “He wanted us dead.”
“He has never changed and he never will,” added Salaam, who was elected last year as a councilman for a central Harlem district.
Salaam, now 50, served seven years in prison after being convicted of the vicious attack, along with four of his childhood friends.
The five young Black men were eventually cleared, but only after the real culprit confessed to the crime and DNA evidence confirmed his guilt and their innocence.
Trump, a bombastic real estate mogul when the notorious crime captured the attention of the city, paid $85,000 for a full-page New York Times ad calling for the execution of the teens who newspapers dubbed the Central Park Five.
The former president has never backed away from his statement, even when confronted with evidence of their innocence.
Salaam blamed Trump’s intransigence on racism.
“That man thinks hate is the animated force in America. It’s not,” Salaam said, flanked by three other members of the Exonerated Five.
Korey Wise, another man who was cleared of the crimes, praised Vice President Kamala Harris, saying she has fought for a “fairer” criminal justice system.
Salaam showed off the eloquence that took him from prison to City Hall by calling on the rapt convention crowd to vindicate the Exonerated Five by working to elect Harris.
“I want you walk with us, I want you to march with us, I want you to vote with us,” he urged. “Together on Nov. 5, we will usher Kamala Harris and Tim Walz into the White House.”
The councilman said defeating Trump would lift a burden from the men’s shoulders and erase a stain of racism from New York City as well as the nation.
“America will finally say goodbye to that hateful man,” he said.
Salaam and his friends were introduced by Rev. Al Sharpton, who supported the five men during their imprisonment and after their release.
Sharpton said he’d known Trump before the Central Park Five incident through New York power circles. But the civil rights leader said Trump revealed his true colors with the way he viciously attacked the five young Black men.
“I saw how he fanned the flames of racism,” Sharpton said.
Originally Published:
