The Central Park 5

Long ago, when the City of New York was young

Five boys went out to play at night

Three blacks and two latinos

Yusef Salaam, a child of God and believer of faith

Raymond Santanna, a young boy of Mexican descent

Kevin Richardson is a strong young man both inside and out

Anton McCray, a youngster in the hardworking class

Korey Wise, a young man with big dreams

No of them knew each other

But all of them have one thing in common

Innocence

The Innocence of being free and young

The time to celebrate youthhood for a special night

A night to be free and young

On April 18th, 1989

The five youths were caught in a spiderweb of lies and racism

And the night of innocence

Became a never-ending nightmare

The night when innocence was lost

In the middle of the street

A woman was lying on the street

Broken, bruised, and violated

On the verge of near death

In her mind, she pieced together small pieces

Pieces of small fragments of what happened

There were five people

Young people that were 14 or 15 years of age

3 black men and 2 Latino men

In her words, those were the men who violated her

And just like that

The nightmare began

The five youths were taken to downtown

Being questioned by the authorities of law

The police thought they have the suspects

But here’s the twist

None of them were there when the woman was violated

They weren’t even at the same spot where it happened

That was the truth

So the law made the five youths lie

Making them the suspects in the crime

Putting the spotlight on a group that wasn’t even there

And with one lie

The nation turned against the youths

Then came the trial

Where they were tried as adults

As the evidence shows itself

It shows that five boys were not there at the crime

They didn’t even touch the woman that night

They were completely innocent

And it showed

But the justice system was quick to judge

They believed the woman over them

So in an instant indictment

The five boys were found guilty of all charges

And just in a flash

The five youths were robbed of their innocence

Yusef, Raymond, Anton, and Kevin were sent to juvenile hall

Korey was sent to prison

Being behind bars was hell for them

But being outside was the worst

Four of the youths were released

No longer boys, but young men

Ready to enter the world

In a new life

Full of possibilities

But when they return to the world

It’s much different for them

For the worst

Despite being back into society

Four men were labeled as felonies

Monsters to society

All of which were caused by a crime they didn’t commit

And the stains on their records were damaging

The suffering of the young men was criminal

Struggling to get jobs, trying to be good men to women, providing for themselves

They had to live with the shame of ex-criminals

The case had taken a toll on them

The worst one was Raymond

Struggling to make ends meet

He resorted to crime

And he paid the ultimate price

By going back to jail

Korey Wise suffered the worst beating by the injustice system

His sentence is 6 -15 years for a crime he didn’t commit

From there went to four prisons

Four stages of hell in each prison

The first prison was the wrath of Rikers Island

There he endured beatings and trauma by the inmates

With no protection from the guards

It was a cruel prison to be in

The second prison was the violence of Attica Correctional Facility

Violence was everywhere in the prison

The beatings and trauma were cranked up to eleven

There Korey had two choices with two outcomes

Live in solitary confinement, and survive in isolation

Or go to the infirmary after a fight, and die there

The choice was solitary

Which ended up saving his life

The third prison was the sadness of Wende State Penitentiary

There Korey accepted his new life as an inmate

Trying to move on

Rebuilding his life

Hoping he would get out to see his family again

But then tragedy struck

Korey learned the horrifying news from his mom

His brother, trying to be his sister, was killed

Murdered in the city he grew up in

His girlfriend was also killed as well

Seeing the sadness of this information

Korey’s chances for a life outside of prison became bleak

The fourth prison was limbo in Auburn State Correctional Facility

Korey was just limbing in prison

Struggling with what to do next

But then he meets a mysterious man

An inmate whose crime is similar to Korey’s

After two encounters with Wise, the inmate was moved to another prison

After that, a miracle happened

The inmate revealed the real truth

He was the one who violated the jogger in 1989

The only one who did it was him

Not the five boys

And with just one confession

Just one testimony by him

The nightmare was over

The five young men were cleared

Four of them were excoriated of the charges

Raymond walked out of prison

Not just as a freeman, but as a celebrated individual

And after 13 years of hell

Korey Wise was released and excoriated as well

Returning home to the city

For all time

In 1989

A crime was committed in New York City

Five youths were arrested and convicted

Wrongly convicted

But in 2001, all that changed

With one confession by the real criminal

Justice was served and five lives were restored

A lie can confuse and destroy a person’s life

But with just one confession

All of that can be restored

With just one merit of honesty

The truth can set us free