In 'Better, Not Bitter,' One Of The Central Park Five Tells His Own Story
In 1989, five kids were falsely accused of the brutal rape of a Central Park jogger. Yusef Salaam writes about systemic racism — and how his family and faith got him through seven years in prison.
Yusef Salaam was only 15 years old in 1989 when he and four other children, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise, were falsely accused of the brutal rape of a Central Park jogger.
Salaam was incarcerated for seven years before being released and, even then, he returned to society as a parolee, not as someone deemed innocent. The Central Park Five did not become the Exonerated Five until their convictions were overturned in 2002, after Korey Wise encountered the actual rapist in prison and persuaded him to come forward.
Despite this horrific miscarriage of justice, Salaam's compelling memoir, is one of astounding warmth.
