Yusef Salaam | |
---|---|
Member of the New York City Council from the 9th district | |
Assumed office January 1, 2024 | |
Preceded by | Kristin Richardson Jordan |
Personal details | |
Born | 1974 (age 49–50) New York City,New York,U.S. |
Political party | Democratic |
Children | 10 |
Education | Dutchess Community College Hunter College |
Yusef Salaam (born 1974) is an American politician,motivational speaker,and activist serving as a member for New York City's 9th City Council district since 2024. A member of the Democratic Party,Salaam was one of the Central Park Five who were wrongfully convicted of raping a woman in Central Park in 1989.
Salaam was born in 1974 in New York City to Sharonne Salaam. [1]
On April 19, 1989, Trisha Meili, a woman jogging in Central Park, was assaulted and raped by Matias Reyes. [lower-alpha 1] Authorities accused Salaam, Korey Wise, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray and Raymond Santana of assaulting her; the five teenagers—of black and Latino race—became known as the "Central Park Five". At the time, Salaam was 15. The teenagers confessed to assaulting her, but later claimed the confessions were the result of beatings and threats by police officers. Salaam later claimed that police had deprived the teenagers of "food, drink or sleep" for more than a day. All five were convicted in 1990. [3] His conviction was upheld by the Appellate Division, and was again upheld in 1993 by the Court of Appeals of the State of New York. [4] He was released from prison in 1997. [5] His conviction was vacated in 2002 and in 2014 New York City paid $41 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit brought by the Central Park Five. [6]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (July 2023) |
Following his release in 1997, Salaam worked as a construction worker in an apartment complex in the Mitchell–Lama Housing Program on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard. He was fired after the company discovered who he was. Salaam then worked at Weill Cornell Medicine. [7] He has served on the board of the Innocence Project. [8]
In 2021, Salaam considered running for the New York State Legislature, but decided against it due to residency requirements. [5] Salaam moved back to New York City from Georgia in 2022. [8] On February 4, 2023, Salaam announced his candidacy for the 9th City Council District of New York City representing Harlem in the 2023 elections. [9] During the campaign, he was endorsed by Cornel West. [10] He won the Democratic primaries on July 5, replacing outgoing councilwoman Kristin Richardson Jordan and defeating assemblymembers Inez Dickens and Al Taylor. [11] [12]
In January 2024, Salaam's car, which had Georgia license plates and dark-tinted windows that are illegal in New York, was stopped in Harlem by a New York City police car. When the officer approached his car, Salaam said he was a member of the city council and that he was on city business. He was on a business call with several of his colleagues including City Council member Sandy Nurse, who heard the entire police interaction. [13] He was driving to dinner with his wife and four of his children. Salaam asked why he had been stopped but the officer, on hearing that he was a council member on business, cut off the interaction and walked away saying, "Take care, sir." Officers are not required to give a reason for stopping a car, but Salaam said the police should have done so voluntarily. Critics of Salaam said he smeared the police and used his position to get out of a possible ticket. [14]
Salaam is a practicing Muslim. He has ten children, three of whom are stepchildren. In 2016, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from then-president Barack Obama. [7]
In film, Salaam is featured in documentarian Ken Burns's film The Central Park Five (2012). [15] He is portrayed as an adult by Chris Chalk and as a child by Ethan Herisse in filmmaker Ava DuVernay's television miniseries When They See Us . [16] In 2022, "Gate of the Exonerated" was dedicated at the northern end of Central Park in honor of Salaam and the other members of the Central Park Five. [17]
Party | Candidate | Maximum round | Maximum votes | Share in maximum round | Maximum votes First round votesTransfer votes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Yusef Salaam | 3 | 6,993 | 63.8% | | |
Democratic | Inez Dickens | 3 | 3,962 | 36.2% | | |
Democratic | Al Taylor | 2 | 1,685 | 14.8% | | |
Democratic | Kristin Richardson Jordan (incumbent, withdrawn) | 2 | 1,108 | 9.7% | | |
Write-in | 1 | 121 | 1.1% | | ||
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Harlem area encompasses several other neighborhoods and extends west and north to 155th Street, east to the East River, and south to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Central Park, and East 96th Street.
The Central Park jogger case was a criminal case concerning the assault and rape of Trisha Meili, a woman in Central Park in Manhattan, New York, on April 19, 1989. On the night of the attack, dozens of teenagers had entered the park, and there were reports of muggings and physical assaults.
Keith L. T. Wright is an American politician and a former member of the New York State Assembly. He was first elected to the assembly in 1992 and was re-elected eleven times. In early 2007, he proposed a bill limiting retail sale of violent video games for individuals below 18 years of age. This proposed law stirred up controversy and protest amongst gamer communities. Wright is also the author of the bill to apologize for African slavery in New York, which was second only to South Carolina in the American slave trade, the first Northern State make such an apology. Wright is also credited with coining the term "Super-Duper Tuesday" in response to the shifting of New York's election primary date to the 5th of February. This is now the common terminology for the change of dates nationwide.
Linda Fairstein is an American author, attorney, and former New York City prosecutor focusing on crimes of violence against women and children. She was the head of the sex crimes unit of the Manhattan District Attorney's office from 1976 until 2002.
Charles Barron is an American activist and politician who currently serves in the New York City Council, representing Brooklyn's 42nd district. He previously held the same seat from 2002 to 2013, and served in the New York Assembly from the 60th district between 2015 and 2022.
This is a list of notable overturned convictions in the United States.
Eric Leroy Adams is an American politician and former police officer, currently serving as the 110th mayor of New York City since 2022. An ideologically moderate member of the Democratic Party, Adams was an officer in the New York City Transit Police and then the New York City Police Department (NYPD) for more than 20 years, retiring at the rank of captain. He served in the New York State Senate from 2006 to 2013, representing the 20th Senate district in Brooklyn. In November 2013, Adams was elected Brooklyn Borough President, the first African-American to hold the position, and reelected in November 2017.
William Morris Perkins was an American politician from the state of New York. A Democrat, he served in the New York City Council from the 9th district from 2017 to 2021. The district includes portions of Harlem in Manhattan. Perkins formerly represented the same seat from 1998 to 2005, and was a member of the New York State Senate for the 30th District from 2007 to 2017.
The Gang of Four, also known as the Harlem Clubhouse, was an African-American political coalition from Harlem whose members later ascended to top political posts. It is named after the Gang of Four of China. J. Raymond Jones was influential in helping these men obtain power.
Jumaane D. Williams is an American activist and politician who has served as the New York City Public Advocate since 2019. He is a former member of the New York City Council from the 45th district, which includes East Flatbush, Flatbush, Flatlands, Marine Park, and Midwood in Brooklyn.
Ruben W. Wills is a former member of the New York City Council, serving the 28th district from 2011 until he was convicted of a felony in August 2017. After serving a 2 - 6-year prison sentence, the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division, Second Department, reversed Wills' convictions and ordered a new trial. On April 22, 2021, Ruben Wills was fully exonerated and the charges were dismissed with prejudice. He is a Democrat.
The Central Park Five is a 2012 documentary film about the Central Park jogger case, directed by documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, his daughter Sarah Burns, and her husband David McMahon. It covers the arrests, interrogations, trials, convictions and vacating the convictions of the five men who were teenagers in 1989 at the time of the case. It was released in the US on November 23, 2012.
Chaim M. Deutsch is an American politician who served as a New York City Council Member for the 48th district from 2014 to 2021. He is a Democrat. The district includes Brighton Beach, Gerritsen Beach, Gravesend, Manhattan Beach, Marine Park, Midwood, Plum Beach, and Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn. He was expelled from City Council after his guilty plea to charges of tax fraud in April 2021.
Kalman Yeger is an American politician who serves in the New York City Council for the 44th district. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes all or parts of the Bensonhurst, Borough Park, Gravesend, Kensington, and Midwood neighborhoods in Brooklyn.
When They See Us is a 2019 American crime drama television miniseries created, co-written, and directed by Ava DuVernay for Netflix, that premiered in four parts on May 31, 2019. It is based on events of the 1989 Central Park jogger case and explores the lives and families of the five Black and Latino male suspects who were falsely accused then prosecuted on charges related to the rape and assault of a white woman in Central Park, New York City. The series features an ensemble cast, including Jharrel Jerome, Asante Blackk, Caleel Harris, Jovan Adepo, Michael K. Williams, Logan Marshall-Green, Joshua Jackson, Blair Underwood, Vera Farmiga, John Leguizamo, Felicity Huffman, Niecy Nash, Aunjanue Ellis, Marsha Stephanie Blake, and Kylie Bunbury.
Korey Wise is an American activist who travels the United States advocating for criminal justice reform. Wise shares his stories of being wrongfully convicted in the Central Park jogger case for the attack on Trisha Meili, a 28-year-old white woman who was jogging in Central Park, as well as attacks on eight other people on the night of April 19, 1989. Wise spent approximately 14 years incarcerated, maintaining his innocence from 1989 until he was exonerated in 2002.
Lawrence E. Lucas was an American Catholic priest, activist, educator, and author. He was the author of Black Priest White Church: Catholics and Racism, and In the 1970s became the first African-American pastor of Resurrection Catholic Church in Harlem, New York City.
New York City's 9th City Council district is one of 51 districts in the New York City Council. It is currently represented by Democrat Yusef Salaam—best known for being one the Central Park Five—who took office in 2024.
Punching the Air is a young adult novel-in-verse by Ibi Zoboi and Dr. Yusef Salaam, published September 1, 2020 by Balzer + Bray.
OnPoint NYC is a New York City nonprofit that operates two privately-run safe injection sites in East Harlem and Washington Heights. Placed at the sites of existing syringe service programs, these were America's first safe injection facilities when they opened in November 2021.