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'I awakened to the American Nightmare': Central Park Five's Yusef Salaam shares his story in Detroit
(Detroit Free Press) “I awakened to the American Nightmare.”
That was how Yusef Salaam described his experience as one of the Central Park Five, a group of Black and Hispanic teenage boys who were wrongly convicted of a 1989 rape and spent between six and 13 years in prison.
On Monday night, Salaam addressed an intimate audience at Detroit’s Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, sharing the story of his youth and his adult journey into politics. He now serves as a Democratic councilman in New York’s 9th District and chair of New York City Council’s Committee on Public Safety, representing more than 8 million constituents.
The speaking engagement and community event also served as a precursor to Detroit Opera's upcoming season finale, "The Central Park Five," Anthony Davis' 2020 Pulitzer Prize- winning adaptation of their story. ..............(more)
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2025/03/20/central-park-fives-yusef-salaam-talks-justice-and-trump-in-detroit/82518325007/