New York City to dedicate gate to the exonerated Central Park Five

A street sign for Central Park West in New York City.
(Image credit: Stock Photo via Getty Images)

More than 30 years after being imprisoned for a violent crime they didn't commit, a group of five Black and Latino men will have a gate in Central Park named in their honor, The New York Times reported Monday.

The gate, which will be known as the "Gate of the Exonerated," will pay tribute to the five men who were convicted of assaulting and raping a white woman in the park in 1989. They would eventually become known as the Central Park Five, and their trials captivated both New York City and the nation.

The five men received sentences ranging from five to 15 years. Following a series of unsuccessful appeals to their convictions, the men were finally exonerated in 2002 after a serial rapist confessed to the crime.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

While the five men would eventually win a $41 million settlement from the city, questions have remained as to how the justice system could have gotten the case so wrong. In the years since the five's release, officials have made efforts to apologize and try to make up for the error, with the Gate of the Exonerated representing the latest bid to do so.

Yusef Salaam, one of the five, said the gate would serve as a form of vindication.

"Every time people go by the gate and remember what happened here, even after we are gone, our story will enlighten people," Salaam told the Times.

The Times noted that the gate "is a rare instance of a municipality formally memorializing its colossal mistake."

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Justin Klawans, The Week US

 Justin Klawans has worked as a staff writer at The Week since 2022. He began his career covering local news before joining Newsweek as a breaking news reporter, where he wrote about politics, national and global affairs, business, crime, sports, film, television and other Hollywood news. Justin has also freelanced for outlets including Collider and United Press International.