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The entryway to New York’s Central Park has been dedicated to commemorating the injustice of five black and Latino teenagers imprisoned after being wrongly convicted of raping a white jogger in 1989.
The entrance on the north side of the park in Harlem is now known as the “Gate of Innocence.”
Many come here to dedicate the park entrance to the men who were once known as the Central Park Five but are now remembered as the Innocence Five.
Organizers said it commemorated not only the miscarriage of justice suffered by the five men, but also other unknown individuals who may have been wrongfully imprisoned.
“We’re here because we persevere,” he told the cheering crowd.
Monday marked the first time in 33 years that another man, Raymond Santana, now in his 40s, returned to Central Park.
“We were babies and had nothing to do with the law. Never knew what Miranda was,” Mr. Santana recalled when police began to question him.
Mr Santana, 14, and Mr Salam, 16, were accused of raping a 28-year-old Wrongly tried for a woman whose savage attack left her permanently injured and has no memory of the attack.
Jailed murderer and serial rapist Matias Reyes later pleaded guilty.
The Central Park Five convictions were dropped in 2002 after the men served between six and 13 years in prison.
“We need to know what we’ve been through. We went to hell and back,” Mr Richardson said. “We have these scars that no one can see.”
They said the gate would serve as a reminder not only of past injustices, but of injustices that are still being committed today.
“This is an important moment – Innocence Gate, this is for everyone,” Mr Richardson said, “everyone who has been wronged by the police.”
The remembrances – the texts carved into the stone on the waist-high walls – were formed over the years.
Other entrances to the park have been labeled to reflect the people who live and work in the city, with names such as Artisans’ Gate, Scholars’ Gate and Strangers’ Gate.
Mayor Eric Adams, who was just beginning his career as a New York City police officer during the 1989 incident, came to the ceremony to honor the men.
“To these soldiers here, you are the embodiment of the black male experience,” the mayor told the men.
Alvin Bragg, now head of the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, apologized for what happened to the men.
“The truth is we shouldn’t be here today,” he said.
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