In an article posted on December 19th, 2022, NYC government stated that exactly 20 years ago on December 19, 2002.
The convictions of Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Korey Wise, and Yusef Salaam were vacated.
The newly named gate — Central Park’s first named gate since 1862 — honors all who have been wrongfully convicted and recognizes the ongoing struggle and fight to ensure justice for all.
Located on Central Park North between Malcolm X Boulevard and Fifth Avenue, the gate keeps with the park’s tradition of naming of original entrances in honor of the people of New York City.
The Gate of the Exonerated is a product of more than two years of extensive, in-depth dialogue among the Harlem community and a response to their desire for healing and belonging in the aftermath of the case of the Exonerated Five and its impact on Black and Latino New Yorkers. The experience of the Exonerated Five and their families reflects a historical pattern of unjust arrests and wrongful convictions of Black and Latino young people in the United States. The Gate of the Exonerated aims to shed light on wrongful incarcerations that are a product of inequities inherent in the justice system, and ultimately to honor all those affected.
The Innocents Project reports that Dr. Martin Luther King wrote in his Letter from Birmingham Jail. Instead, we must reckon with the hard truth that racial discrimination undermines accuracy in fact-finding and contributes to wrongful conviction, as powerfully demonstrated by the data of the National Registry of Exonerations.
Here are powerful images that speak from Seitu Oronde:
Click here to find more of Seitu Oronde’s photographic essays at Seitu’s World.
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