Salaam was sent to prison when he was 15 and spent almost seven years there before he was exonerated.
Yusef Salaam's work for his Harlem community is about to reach another level. The Democrat is poised to win a seat on the New York City Council.
"This victory really signals more than just for me, but for my constituents, that it is possible for us to just do anything," said Salaam. YUSEF SALAAM: The biggest push I think over and above, getting affordable housing for my community, getting safe streets for my community, getting great education, world class education is us beginning to plan for the future that allows us to come together and organize in a way that's meaningful.
Salaam was one of five teens wrongfully accused and imprisoned for the beating and rape of a White woman in Central Park in 1989. The group came to be known as the Central Park Five.In 2022, the National Registry of Exonerations published the list of people who were convicted of crimes and were later exonerated — 53% of them were Black. SALAAM: Well, it tells us that the system itself is alive and sick.
Salaam will now help make policy in New York City, which continues to struggle with a migrant crisis. "I think the mayor has been given an unfair task. Because it's one thing to have to deal with mayoral issues as it relates to the community that you're coming into but it's another thing to have a new set of challenges that you didn't think about, that you didn't foresee," he said.Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com
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