Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us, is set in New York city during the late 1980s. In the show, it is apparent how the conviction of the Central Park 5 sparked a national conversation. DuVernay highlights the bias media coverage and stereotypes that the Central Park 5 dealt with through her use of protests.
This piece spotlights Korey Wise’s sister, Marci, who is a transgender woman of color. She is kicked out of her own home because of her gender identity and continually faces harassment from her community and her own mother. This feature of the trans sub-community aims to create change and offers insight into the external factors affecting Korey as he spent 14 years in prison.
This series disrupts the assumption that the media portrays both sides of every story. In this case, the media chose to alter the story of the five men, which stirred up the emotions people already had. The media also played a role into how the prosecutors and courts were seen. The world that the prosecutor, Linda Fairstein, lives in allows her to not carry the burden of having coerced these children into giving confessions. There was no case against the Central Park 5, but because of her status as a white upper class female, she was able to manipulate her power. Betrayed by the media, jails, prosecutors, and the police, the Central Park 5 and this series as a whole serve as an example of exposing a brutal and racist system that continues to repeat itself.