Central Park Five

Central Park Five

Central Park Five Documentary: This documentary discusses the rape that took place in Central Park during the 1980s. This tells the story from the perspective of the five men who were convicted as well as police, the victim and the actual rapist. Five black and Latino teenagers were wrongly convicted of murder and underwent interrogation for hours before breaking down and falsely admitting that they had raped the female jogger. They were sentenced and served between 6 to 13 years in prison before a serial rapist named Matias Reyes admitted to the crime. The police investigated and saw that the DNA found in the semen on Trisha Melili matched the DNA of Reyes. The film highlights the way in which law enforcement, social institutions, and media undermined the very rights of the individuals they were designed to safeguard and protect.

Donald Trump and the Central Park Five: This article discusses Donald Trump’s less than enthusiastic opinion on the settlement agreed to by Mayor Bill de Blasio. The mayor decided to give each man approximately one million dollars foe each year he spent in jail. Trump took out a full-page ad in the Daily News to express his beliefs. His headlines advocated bringing back the death penalty and our police. Trump believes, despite factual evidence, that the boys must be guilty and speaks of police blunders as though law enforcement was in favor of the teenage boys. He disregarded Matias Reyes and vehemently called the settlement a disgrace. This response from Donald Trump represents the “perpetuated tendency to write off teen-age boys because of where they live or the color of their skin. “

Donald Trump Interview: http://www.cnn.com/videos/cnnmoney/2016/10/07/trump-1989-central-park-five-interview-cnnmoney.cnnmoney

Critical Questions:

1. All of the boys convicted were minorities. How would the case differ if these were white boys? Would there have even been a case against white boys? Do you think the police would have overlooked such important information in the investigation had it been five white teens?
2. Rev. Calvin Butts stated that in the 1980s, the black community was under assault. A common saying was that “the young black man was the most endangered species in America.” Poor minority groups suffered the most from the rise of criminality and yet, they were the people who were blamed most for the increase. Did there social and economic status affect why they were targeted? How so? How did their status impact the way that the judge and jury perceived them and whether they were guilty or not?
3. Trump writes, “These young men do not exactly have the past of angels.” He said compensating the men for the wrongful convictions was a disgrace. Trump also stated, “How can our great society tolerate the continued brutalization of its citizens by crazed misfits? Criminals must be told that their civil liberties end when an attack on our safety begins!” Despite evidence, which completely vindicates the five men, Trump is insistent that they are still in the wrong. Is this overt racism or inferential racism? How do his headlines that express his desire to bring back the death penalty affect the lives of the black and Latino community? How would you feel if you were a young black or Latino man after reading this article? How do his ads and position of power affect people’s view of the case and the settlement?
4. We have talked in class about how media shapes the way we view information and understand events. During the 1980s, the media used certain headlines throughout the reporting of the case that may have influenced the public’s perception of the event. How did they portray the five teenagers differently from how they portrayed the jogger? What implications did the medias portrayal of the suspects have on the case? How did it affect the public’s perception of the case?
5. This weeks reading discusses white killer privilege. How does the media portrayal of these alleged rapists in Central Park Five, who were minorities, differ from the way the media has portrayed white killer such as Elliot Rodger? What larger social institutions patterned by race, class and gender may have influenced the differences in media portrayal?