Page 33 - Provoke Magazine Vol7

The Central Park 5
-Kimika Foster
The Central Park 5 is a case where Trisha Meili a white female jogger was brutally attacked and raped in the North woods of Manhattan’s Central Park on the night of April 19, 1989. The victim was left in a coma for 12 days. Around an estimated 30 juvenile males were in Central Park that evening five of which were caught 4 were African American, and 1 Hispanic they were apprehended, and charged with assault, robbery, riot, rape, sexual abuse and attempted murder relat- ing to Meili’s and other attacks in the park that night. Before the trial the FBI tested the DNA of the rape kit and found it did not match any of the tested suspects. They were question and held for 18 hours without pa- rental consent, and forced to give written statements confessing to this crime before their parents had a chance to intervene they were already forced to sign all their rights to an attorney away simply because the boys wanted to go home and grew tired of the torture.
We have heard countless stories of young black males that have been exonerated and given settlements for being wrongfully convicted. These once minors served 5-15 year sentences for crimes they did not commit with no eye witnesses or DNA evidence their written statements which contradicted each other were used against them to convict them. This leave me wonder in this broken system that targets black males how many more are behind bars serving time for a crime some- one else committed. In a time where DNA and foren- sics are available in this case even the fact that they had no match didn’t matter.
Mass incarceration has been so socially concentrat- ed that America is no longer incarcerating certain individual criminals they are incarceration whole so- cial groups majority minority. No where in the world incarcerates at the rate of America black men grow- ing up in the late 1970’s through the American pris- on boom of the 80’s and 90’s had the chances of them serving time at the rate of 70%. There now is about 1.2 million African American children with a parent who is or has been incarcerated. American has chosen the response of the deprivation of liberty for an historical- ly oppressed group whose liberty in the United States was never firmly established from the beginning.
As African American parents we must break this cy- cle we must educate ourselves and our young children about this broken system from the beginning so that they do not become future victims of it. Parents must educate themselves on the laws of American soil and know that they are prime targets. Knowing your rights, and know- ing the laws is the first step to breaking the cycle. Not being able to afford lawyers has hurt the African Amer- ican community families in poverty continue to be tar- geted. Plan to have talks and lessons with your child about crime and self-protection Kids and the Law is a book funded by The California bar foundation that helps parents prepare their juveniles and teens for the laws of the land. There are many similar books that you can ac- cess via smart phone by doing a google search keywords: Children or kids and the law in your state. As adults we must also be educated on the system, and how not to become a victim by knowing your own rights, and what certain charges mean such as felonies and probation there are resources online, and this is vital to the African American community. We must attempt to save our own lives, and the lives of our children with preventive main- tenance starting now. We have more African Americans in For-Profit prisons working free labor than there were slaves this should be alarming to every parent that the system was built to keep our group enslaved under the 13 amendment. How many more innocent children like the Central Park 5 must be targeted with no penalty given to law enforcement before our community takes action?
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