The Era of Racism and Injustice in New York City

The Era of Racism and Injustice in New York City

Sihan Ahmed

CLN4U

Mrs. Bediako

Dec. 23, 2014

The Era of Racism and Injustice in New York City

During 1980s, crime rates were raising in New York City, as the war on drugs and street crime violence were becoming the next big thing (Sterbenz, 2013). New York City was known for its high number of criminal offences, with 1,814 homicides at the time (Sterbenz, 2013). Low-income black males and Latinas contributed with a high rate of criminal convictions, as crack and heroin infested the city causing crime rates to increase (Sterbenz, 2013). In April of 1989 in Central Park, a woman named Trisha Meili, was raped and beaten while running. The jogger had no idea or memory of the incident because of the severity of the brain damage she suffered. During this time, the police took the five teenagers into custody and questioned them for more than twenty-four hours, until they finally confessed. The Central Park Joggers trial was a miscarriage of justice that ruined the lives of five innocent young men due to racial discrimination and cruel prosecution. The issues that should have been on trial were the illegal tactics used by law enforcement, the bias media coverage of the case, the false confessions of the accused, the lack of evidence and the use of racial profiling as a method of investigation.

To begin with, the Central Park Jogger case was known for the interrogation methods used by authorities. The lead prosecutor, Elizabeth Ladrer, fed Kharey Wise the answers and used leading questions to help in the interrogation of the boys (ABC News, 2002). Statistics show police interrogation causes 33% of wrongful arrests (Redlich, Silverman, Chen & Steiner, 2004, 108) and this was evident in the Central Park case. Police used crucial tactics in order to get the boys to confess which instilled fear and caused the boys to believe they would be able to go home (Drizin & Leo, 2008, 896). The policemen use of interrogation caused the boys to be put behind bars for the atrocious crime they did not commit. Moreover, the boys fell into the policemen’s trap as policemen told them they do not feel that they have committed the crime, but they know who did. Statistics shows 84% of adolescents confess to some or all of the charges against them (Redlich, Silverman, Chen & Steiner, 2004, 109) and this was the case in the boys’ confessions. A detective also lied to Yusef Salaam, one of the convicted, saying his DNA was found on Trisha’s jogging shorts (Findley & Scott, 2006, 306). A statistic states, “25% of innocent defendants who were exonerated with DNA evidence made incriminating statements or full-on confessions” (Filipovic, 2012) and that was clearly seen in Yusef Salaam’s confession. Authorities took advantage of their status after the boys gave their statements and were misled into believing they would be able to go home. Also, police seem to use the idea of tunnel vision abundantly – too focused on finding a suspect – as their only goal is to solidify guilt and not learn the truth (Findley & Scott, 2006, 304). Police turned their attention to youths who had been “wilding” in the park the same night Trisha’s body had been found (Findley & Scott, 2006, 305). Police pick the most believable story and add facts into it so by the time they are finished interrogating the boys, they often find the suspects guilty (Filipovic, 2012). Although, the interrogation methods policemen used were legal like lying to suspects, claiming there is evidence, deceiving and intimidating them, minimizing the crime and stating confession is the easy way out (Filipovic, 2012), the boys lack of sleep seem to have interrupted any train of thought they could possibly have. Policemen knew what they were doing as they used sleep deprivation to remove the boy’s abilities to think and act comprehensibly, which leads to hallucinations and delusions. The boys were desperate and deprived of their sleep, which led them to eventually admit to the murder of Trisha (Filipovic, 2012). To sum it up, crucial methods of interrogation was used to get information out of the boys; depriving them of their sleep, feeding them answers and using leading questions. The policemen knew the boys were underage so they took advantage of it and deceived them.

Further, due to the media coverage of the Central Park Jogger case, the five boy’s reputations were ruined as headlines viewed them as “wild” and a “wolf pack”. Media portrayed the boys as the “Wolf Pack,” causing them to be associated with symbols of the criminal menace (Dahl, 2011) and used language intended to diminish, degrade and animalize (Byfield, 2014, 156). News headlines and articles caused local residents to become terrified of the boys as they used “menace” to describe the boy’s actions (Byfield, 2014, 156). In addition, the boys reputation was ruined worldwide as ignorant news reporters added their personal opinions to the case, “On April 23, Post columnist Pete Hamill wrote that the boys in custody had come ‘from a world of crack, welfare, guns, knives, indifference and ignorance…a land with no fathers…to smash, hurt, rob, stomp, rape. The enemies were rich. The enemies were white’” (Dahl, 2011). Black men’s tendency to rape white women was so normal in mainstream discussion that white journalists appear to be unpleasantly unaware when it is being put into play (Byfield, 2014, 155). News articulated blacks’ position as a “marginalized” other in dominant culture (Byfield, 2014, 155). This shows the media coverage was bias during the time of the crime because of the boys’ racial backgrounds. Again, newspaper covers viewed the boys as “other” with the use of animalistic terms (Byfield, 2014, 156) and The Post, again, reported “A young Wall Street investment banker – on her nightly jog through Central Park – was brutally beaten, raped and left for dead by a wild pack of teens, police said yesterday” (Burns, 2014, 67). The mainstream news media never questioned their guilt, instead they repeated the same facts of the case, made some twist and turns to baffle the boys and the crime they were said to have committed (Burns, 2014, 69). Due to the racial backgrounds, especially during the 1980s, it was easier for people to believe the five boys committed the crime and the thought of it being someone else, never crossed their minds. As one can see, media played a huge role in the Central Park Jogger case; the boys were rationalized due to their race and the crimes they allegedly committed. Journalists all had their point of view and biases on what occurred and felt the need to add their own knowledge and feelings into their work of art.