06/07/19 06/07/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> wre didou see t ly? aemale joer was serely beaten a raped. >> ery blamail whoas in the parkast nighis a spect. i ed all o tm.

>>here iinjustichappenin here >> theres not onshred of evidce. >> imagine these teenagers. >> guilty. y: "wh they seus." a damning new four-part netflix ries tel the devtating storof teenars of cor from fiarlem,our rican-amican, onlatino, who we wrongfuy accuseand convted of ring and arly lling a white womawho was out foa jog inew york ty' central rk on thnight of apl 19, 19. 30 yearsgo. antr mccray,evin ricrdson, yusef saam, raymd santan d korey se spentetween 6 an13 yearsn prisonor imes thedid not mmit. spend t hour wi the ries creor, writ, and director ava duvernay. >> our goal was to bring into recapture these boys

humanity and that of their families. we know when you incarcerate one person, you incarcerate their family, their community, and very much so incarcerating whole generations of people. amy: ava duvernay is the oscar-nominated director of "13th" and "selma." her new series, "when they see us." all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. mexico's government says it will send 6000 troops to its southern border with guatemala in a crackdown on central american migrants hoping to seek asylum in the u.s. thursday's announcement came as heavily armed mexican soldiers and police blocked a caravan of about migrants as they walked a 1000 highway in the southern state of chiapas. the crackdown came ahead of a threat by president trump to impose 5% tariffs on all mexican imports monday unless mexico

further tightens controls on immigration. mexican officials are reportedly nearing a deal with the white house that would require asylum-seekers to seek refuge in the countries they first cross into. under the plan, guatemalan migrants could only apply for a summit in mexico, and hondurans and salvadorans would be forced to apply as refugees in guatemala. the emerging plan drew fire from civil liberties groups including the aclu, which said such a change to the asylum system violates both u.s. and international laws and is unlikely to survive a legal challenge. democratic house judiciary chair jerrold nadler is reportedly preparing to subpoena special counsel robert mueller within the next two weeks. that's according to politico, which also reports nadler is privately pushing democratic leaders to open a formal impeachment inquiry against the president. during a closed-door meeting on tuesday, house speaker nancy pelosi reportedly pushed back, saying trump should be "in prison" but not impeached. meanwhile, the democratic chair of the house ways and means

committee is coming under fire from his own party after he told bloomberg news he has no plans to use a recently-passed new york state law to acquire president trump's tax records. congressmember richard neal says he's worried the request would "bolster trump administration arguments that congress is on a political fishing expedition." treasury secretary steven mnuchin has defied congressional requests to turn over trump's tax records, and trump remains the only president or major presidential candidate in modern u.s. history to refuse to make his tax returns public. russian president vladimir putin warned thursday of a global catastrophe if the trump administration abandons talks on extending the new start nuclear arms treaty. the agreement, negotiated by the obama administration in 2010 and ratified by the senate later that year, limits the total number of deployed nuclear warheads, missiles, and bombers. it's set to expire in 2021, and so far, putin says the u.s. has ignored his efforts to negotiate

an extension. >> no one has spoken with us. numeral -- no formal process has taken place and it will all and in 2022. amy: in february, the trump administration withdrew the u.s. from another landmark nuclear deal, the 1987 intermediate-range nuclear forces treaty, or inf. the move prompted russia to withdraw as well, warning it was preparing a new generation of nuclear-capable missiles. the african union has suspended sudan's membership after soldiers with the ruling transitional military council opened fire on sit-in protesters on monday, killing at least 108 of them and wounding more than 500 others. in a statement, the a.u. said sudan would remain suspended until a civilian-led transitional authority is established. sudan's military took power in april after a month-long popular uprising led to the overthrow of long-time authoritarian president omar al-bashir. to see our conversations on sudan, go to democracynow.org.

a new study finds climate change could cause thousands of heat-related deaths across the united states each year if global greenhouse gas emissions aren't rapidly curbed. the study in the journal science advances looked at deaths from recent heat waves in 15 major u.s. cities, extrapolating mortality rates from future temperature rise. in new york city alone, a global temperature of three degree celsius or 5.5 degrees fahrenheit, could mean another 5800 deaths each year, with another 2500 extra annual deaths in los angeles. washington governor and 2020 presidential hopeful jay inslee says the democratic national committee is refusing to schedule a candidate debate on the climate crisis. inslee said thursday he was told by the dnc that if he participates in any non-dnc-affiliated debate on the climate, he would be disinvited to future debates held by the committee. inslee called the move a deeply disappointing attempt to blacklist candidates. he said in a statement --

"the dnc is silencing the voices of democratic activists, many of our progressive partner organizations, and nearly half of the democratic presidential field, who want to debate the existential crisis of our time." the service employees international union has become the first u.s. labor union to support the green new deal. on thursday, the seiu's executive board voted to endorse the plan to radically shift the u.s. economy to renewable energy, ending u.s. carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. in a tweet, seiu said -- "this groundbreaking measure aims to address climate change while creating high-quality union jobs. we need to combat climate change while raising standards for all working people." a new scientific paper warns the earth's oceans are even more contaminated with microplastic pollution than previously known. the study, whose findings appear in thursday's edition of nature scientific reports, sampled vertical columns of water off california, extending to the deep ocean floor.

the findings revealed tiny pieces of plastic waste at every depth, with higher concentrations far below the surface. the study also found high levels of microplastic pollution in the bodies of crabs, fish, and microscopic ocean animals. the findings counter the widespread belief that most plastic waste is found floating at the surface and near coastlines. the trump administration is planning to reclassify high-level radioactive waste as low-risk in a bid to cut as much as $40 billion from cleanup costs at nuclear weapons production sitites around the u. a top energy department official called the proposal a responsible, results-driven solution to the problem of nuclear waste disposal. the move was condemned by environmentalists and scientists who say the waste needs to be contained in facilities deep underground. in a statement, the natural resources defense council said -- "the trump administration is moving to fundamentally alter more than 50 years of national consensus on how the most toxic and radioactive waste in the world is managed and ultimately disposed of."

former vice president joe biden thursday reversed his long-standing support for the hyde amendment, a decades-old ban on federal funding for abortions. biden announced his policy shift at a fundraiser in atlanta. >> for many years, as u.s. senator, i have supported the hyde amendment, like many others have. because there was sufficient moneys and circumstances were women were able to exercise that right, women of color, poor women, women who are not able to have access, and it was not under attack as it was then. as it is now. as circumstances changed. amy: biden's reversal came during the same week that his campaign affirmed his support for the hyde amendment's ban on federal funding for abortions. that set off a wave of criticism from grassroots democrats and most of his rivals for the 2020 nomination.

former new york city prosecutor linda fairstein has stepped down from vassar college's board of trustees, and from the boards of a pair of nonprofits, amid growing outrage over her role in the case of the central park five. in 1989, the five teenagers of color from harlem were wrongfully accused and convicted on charges of gang rape based largely on fairstein's work as head of the sex crimes unit for the manhattan das office. the five spent years in prison before the real perpetrator confessed in 2002. the case drew renewed attention after the recent premiere of the new netflix mini-series about the central park five titled, "when they see us." after headlines, we'll spend the rest of the hour with the series' director, ava duvernay. a new york police department disciplinary hearing wrapped up thursday for daniel pantaleo, a white police officer who killed unarmed african american eric garner in 2014 by putting him in a chokehold and refusing to let go even as garner repeatedly gasped "i can't breathe." pantaleo never faced criminal prosecution after a grand jury decided not to indict him. he has remained on the police force but could lose his job and pension if found guilty of violating nypd procedures.

a presiding judge will send a recommendation about pantaleo's fate to police commissioner james o'neill in the coming weeks. eric garner's mother, gwen carr, called thursday for all the officers present at her son's killing to be fired. meanwhile, the new york police department has apologized for the first time for its raid a half-century ago on the stonewall inn, a gay- and trans-friendly bar in manhattan's greenwich village. in june of 1969, the inn was the site of a violent police raid that triggered an uprising and helped launch the modern-day lgbtq rights movement. on thursday, new york police commissioner james o'neill made the apology during a press briefing on public safety for pride month events. >> the actions taken by the nypd were wrong, plain and simple. the actions and the laws were discriminatory and oppressive,

and for that, i apologize. amy: washington state's supreme court ruled thursday against a florist who refused to provide floral arrangements for the wedding of a same-sex couple, ruling the business owner broke the state's consumer-protection and anti-discrimination laws. the ruling came almost exactly one year after the u.s. supreme court ruled in favor of colorado baker jack phillips, who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, citing his religious opposition. in las vegas, an animal rights activist rushed the stage at a space technology conference thursday to confront amazon ceo jeff bezos over conditions at his chicken farms that supply meat to whole foods and other amazon grocery brands. the activist, priya sawhney, was quickly forced off the stage as she told the world's richest man to stand up for the rights of animals. sawhney is co-founder of the group direct action everywhere, whose members work to directly rescue farm animals from factory farms and slaughterhouses. she was arrested in september at

a protest against animal cruelty at the largest organic poultry producer in the u.s. and faces up to a decade in prison. to see our interview with priya sawhney, visit our website democracynow.org. and legendary new orleans musician dr. john died thursday of a heart attack. he was 77 years old. dr. john won six grammy awards in a decades-long career that saw him produce at least three dozen albums fusing blues, boogie, funk and jazz -- in a flamboyant sound that embodied new orleans's diverse music scene. after hurricane katrina devastated new orleans in 2005, dr. john headlined a series of benefit concerts. in 2010, he was active in the campaign to hold bp accountable for the deepwater horizon oil disaster off the louisiana coast. >> ♪ amy: and those are some of the

headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. "when they see us." today we spin the hour with ava duvernay, whose damning new series tells the devastating story of five teenagers from harlem requester african-american and one latino, who were wrongfully accused and convicted of raping and nearly killing trisha meili, a 20-year -- 28-year-old white investment banker who was out for a jog in new york city's central park on and night that would come to define the boys was april 19, 1989, more than 30 years ago. in the sensational trial that followed, they became known as the central park five. during the trial, the teens maintained their innocence. but in 1990, they were convicted. antron mccray, kevin richardson, yusef salaam, and raymond

santana served between six and seven years, and korey wise, the only teenager tried as an adult, served more than 13 years. the four-part series created, written, and directed by ava duvernay, focuses on what happened to the five teenagers, following them into adulthood. this is the trailer for "when they see us." >> is my mom here? >> iis jusus. you an us. whoere you the par with? >> i don't knowames. >> ere diyou see e ly? wt lady >> female gger w severel beat and rap. wasne black mal who thparkast nit is a suspect. need a of them >> wt is goi on wi my so >> yr son s involv in a rape in ntral pa.

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♪ >> closer d closer 'm ing to bng youome. i went ongf th it, that i uld goome. and th is all wanted. they wi lock usp. th will ki us. life!is my i don't think we should admit to something we did not do. >> ok, we keep fighting. amy: that's the trailer for the netflix series "when they see come ok exposg the inr a brokecriminal justicsystem, ying barthe cades ofrauma trgered by

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knn as theentral pk five reachea settlent with e city oin 2014. $41 mlionearlr this wk, i spoke wi the sers creato writ, and dictor, av duveay in loangeles. i gan by aing her y she decided to focus on the central park five. >> we know the case -- i'm happy to be here. we know this case is very famous for those of us who track and follow the ins and outs, of send downs of the criminal justice i was in this country. really interested in using the touch points that make it very contemporary, which is the trunk connection, which is a small part of the overall story but an entry point for people who are not paying attention otherwise. but also this case allowed for a beautiful jumping off point to explore the system overall. in my mind in creating it, i

have this very famous case that i know is of interest to people, but this is about the criminal justice system and each part of the series or the four-part film as i call it, is designed to take you deeper and deeper to make you further acquainted with different aspects of the system as it stands today. amy: so why don't you start by telling us the story. for those who are not familiar with it, it is hard to believe it took place so long ago -- i mean, back in 1989 is when this story begins in central park. >> i will be brief. i think people who are watching you cannow this or check it out. basically, in april 1989, 5 boys , four black boys and a latino boy, were arrested over the forse of a couple of days an incident that happened in the park that turned out to be the rape and assault of a woman,

trisha meili, worked at salomon brothers, a white woman in her late 20's. she was clinging to life. many people thought she would die. he became a huge story in new york city, cut story and become a national story. a lightning rod for a lot of politicized rhetoric at the time calling for the death, calling -- pat buchanan called for lynching. called for the criminalization of not just these boys, but all boys who were thought to be wilding, which we know is a manufactured word, thought to be -- another manufactured word. this created this toxic environment that had real-world effects in terms of the way that we see black and brown people in this country, particularly boys and criminality. amy: i want to turn to the part

that depicts how new york police department officers interrogated 14-year-old kevin richardson. >> the sooner you tell us what you know, the sooner you go home. you got it? >> yes. yes, officer. >> dettive. i ametecti hartiga l's stt with y telli us whyou weren the rk with. >> ion'know nam. i got lt. s up. this is t a game >> is myom here? >> sheeft. >> s wasn't feelin wl. is justs. you and us. amy: "just you and us." kevin richardson, 14 years old,

says "is my mom here?" here is another scene from "when they see us," antron mccray as he is confronted by his father bobby mccray. the nypd detectives interrogating him have just told his father outside the room to put pressure on his son come onantron, so he will tell them what they want to hear and he is threatened, the ask about his past, they say they know he's are time in prison, say they know or he works. he is sced. goes in the rooalone wi s son. a't rap no lad

>> tse policwill mesus up. the're n playing they're not ok, whenhe policwant wha theyant, ty will d anytng. do you hr me? anythi! they willock u up. they wilkill us. myt gonna let them kill son. amy: that is antron mccray with his father bobby, as bobby pressures him thinking he will save his son. this is a scene that shows another one of the kids of the central park five, raymond santana, after hours facing hours of interrogation by police to tech tips. his father has just returned after he had to leave to go to work and he nds raond

rking onis confession. >> what going o >> iott. wt is gng onere? >> are y o >> aron he her dowwhile vin was bbing he right? >>op, stop pe your son adtted to rat in cenal park. hato is gointo belie a d would st in re. >> wt you me? you did not hear what he just said? i made a deal. ava duvernay, one after another these boys being pressured and the police using their family members, their

parents, their fathers, their mothers, to go after their kids, promising them they will be the one that is freed if they just cooperate. >> yes, a lot of manipulation in those rooms, a lot of praying on people who did not have a full knowledge or grasp of their rights. another r reason why this is so important. you would be surprised how many people -- we know and the people who watch this show must like another case, you reported on it . it is around. but i have been shocked how many people don't know it. they kind of know something went wrong, but don't really know the details, have also been shocked by the people who knew they were convicted and incarcerated, but never knew they were exonerated and freed. so the goal is to tell the whole story, which is firmly rooted in

the perspective of the boys. that is why in these scenes, there be constructed from stories the men told me, for hours of research and working with the men, to re-create the place where they could tell me exactly what was happening to them in those rooms with the goal of making sure it doesn't happen again. amy: in this clip of "when they has beenyusef salaam interrogated for hours by police detectives before his mother arrives. arrives.laam i she threatens to call the "new york times" and then she is allowed to interrupt the detectives and confronts them ter coorting h son. look me. aryou hu? >> no.

wt ishat? >>e waiv his righ to an attorn. >> y'reot waivi your righ. youeft a chd unaccomnied guardian orawyer in thi room f hours. shame onou. amy: that is sharon salaam confronting the sex crimes prosecutors linda fairstein. in this scene from "when they see us," the police interrogation of 14-year-old kevin richardson, after hours of questioning kevin alone without

a guardian or a lawyer, the detectives bring in kevin's sister angie. by this time, they have written out kevin's confession for him and are tryi to get angie to sign it, too. >> kin -- >> kw, ang, n did not that, aie. >> he telli you he d not see nothg. whare you king h sign this? you havto sign ght here his.not signg angie, ease, si it. >>o you nt to ta her brher ho or not? cause can keehim. >> can't assignhis. pleas ust beuse you're wavg an atrney rht now, doesn't an it isorever. you get ur broth home.

you t a lawy and we ll ear this all up. >> angie, please, sign it. amy: the enormous pressure these children in these families are under as each is thinking they can get out. talk about that, not only you're talking to the boys, but their families. deally, there is enormous here as the parents were trying, often without lawyers, to figure out what to do, what to advise their children. at first they were understanding the kids were going to be charged with something like a lawful assembly and soon it is not only their witnesses to a rate, but they are the rapist themselves. >> it is so important of people to the process and that is why sent desperate the first episode to really bring you into the room. you'll hear again and again from the side that opposes the truth what actually happened. how could you sign something if

he did not do it? why would you say something if it wasn't true? it is important to understand the power dynamics that happen in the room when you are poor, black, young, or brown and you're in a room with a wide authority, police officer who is telling you, do these things and i will help you, do these things and it will be ok. math to not difficult understand how one plus one equals these boys basically signing eir lis away. the time taken to explore what each boy went through so they ae not just a model list, not big group called the central park five and you don't know who they are, why they did what they diwas to r goalas to brg in the room trecapturthese boys humanitand thatf their falies. iarcerateneou peon, you incarcete their family, incarcerated community and very much so incarcerating

whole generations of people. that detail became important for me. amy: ava duvernay, creator, writer, director of "when they infamousbased on the central park jogger case. we will be back with her in a minute ♪ [muc break]

amy: one of the songs featured in the series "when they see us ." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we continue with our interview with ava duvernay, creator, cowriter, director of "when they see us," the new four-part series on the central park five. i asked her why she chose the title "when they see us." >> it was around the idea of presenting the humanity of people. i came to feel it was a political moniker, the central park five, something given to them by the press, given to them

by the prosecution. it was something that allowed them to be seen as a gang, as a realack, and not as people, real boys, with real families, memories, hopes, dreams that were dashed the day they were captured. amy: who did not even all know each other. >> no. you see that as well. in the way was presented, this was a wilding pack of boys that went into the park to have fun and assault this woman, when in fact most of the boys from only two of the five boys even knew each other. the rest of them did not even know the names they were saying, who they were implicating. they have become brothers in this. they have become crusaders for each other. it of the time, they did not know one from the other. amy: i want to go to this scene which takes place in a jail cell when all of the boys, the five boys are together for the first time since they were arrested

and interrogated, except for korey wise. m t. man. >> they de us e, rht? >>hy are ty doing us li this? amy: so that is four of the five boys talking to each other and

"i did "i lied on you," not tell the truth" as they were under pressure for hours with these police to texas. then there is the family members of the boys who are meeting ahead of the trial. and at this point, the parents have now attorneys for the kids. in this scene, peter rivera, the attorney for raymond santana, delivers some important new assigd to theew york state sueme court eal -- yat aig ishat a bideal? wait, wh top of w did yo say yopracticegain? >> divor attorne i handl sharon's case

>> snning th whe is rand. th did noto that wh this se. cords isnd? theyall it glagher's isla. 10 times o o nine he sides with the state. they don't plan to lose this case. >> the chips were stacked against these kids through the process, through the systemic processing of the boys. because it certainly was not based on evidence. there was no physical evidence. there was never any physical evidence connecting the five to trisha meili, to the site. not a piece of hair, not a drop of blood, not any physical material. there was no weapon. none of the things that cases are built upon when they are properly processed.

it was all the tapes. it was all coerced confession post of amy: but there was semen -- >> but it was not theirs. there's a point in the film were you see the defense is very excited that this is found because they are 100% sure their boys did not do it so it will show there was someone else. but when the chips are so stacked against the propaganda through political will, through things like the way the judges assignment was done, through the spoiling of the jury pool by ads being taken out, calling for the execution of these boys, this was two weeks after the crime -- before trial. they did not have a proper jury or proper judge. there were challenges with the defense in terms of the wherewithal to have muscular defense. so through this series, i try to

show you all of the ways in which the system is slanted toward people who cannot defend themselves against the clutches of the state when the state turns its attention your way. amy: the central park five, as a goes to trial, then real estate developer donald trump paid $85,000 to publish a full-page ad in four new york newspapers with the headline all in capital letters "bring back the death penalty, bring back our police." below the headline the ad read "i want to hate these murderers and i always will. i'm not looking to psychoanalyze or understand them, i'm looking to punish them. i no longer want to understand their anger. i want them to be afraid." later that year, trump told nbc news he wished he was black. this is a clip from that interview, which is also featured in the second episode of "when they see us." >> a well-educated black as a tremendous advantage over a

white in terms of the job offering. i think sometimes a black may think they don't really have the advantage for this or that, but -- i'velity, currently, said on more than one occasion about myself, if our starting off today, i would love to be a well-educated black because i do think they have a advantage today. amy: that was your developer donald trump. if you can talk about the ads. it was also the time that wolfpack was coined, that term. >> there's a world in which i make this piece and there is an actual actor playing donald trump we're going into his gold gilded buildings and following his thought process and the rhetoric that he was spewing at the time, the opportunity he saw in being an opportunist he took it. but we don't. what you have seen is pretty much the extent of how i deal with them because my focus in

this is not him. my focus is the voice of these men and their families and their communities. there was an atmosphere at the time that he certainly contributed to. if someone like have buchanan who also called for their deaths. you called for korey wise to be publicly hung. there was no evidence of this kind of rhetoric at the time that led to a very dangerous environment, not just through these boys, but for black and brown people generally at the time. if you start -- a few short steps to the 1994 crime bill. it was all a time doing great emotional violence and physical harm to people of color who are very much at risk by these words, these intentions. and donald trump was a big part of that. amy: i want to go back to "when they see us," with attorney mickey joseph who cross examines an nypd detective who is

testifying at a key point in their trial. you testified it was linda mccray's idea to remove herself from the interrogation room. >> th's rit. >> b isn't it theact that was yo idea? yos and efctiveonzale >> we all deded togeer. >> detecveonzalez stified atntron ld him hhad petrated t joggeut you justold the da at antrowas very clear wh you th he did not petrate he whh is it? bothf you c't beelling t trut >> oection, gumentate. >> oer. andecause ner you n deteive gonzez cap nos of the inrview, i gue we will just ner know at a -year-olwent fro sayg he never heard of a rape in the park to allegedly confessing to it. any kind this is another clip

from the series. robert burns, the attorney who representedusef saam, addresng the jy. trong movation t sol and cse thicase as on as possib, so inces my clnt, ok 15ears o at theime. neve bee an ineasing bore any cirmstance,nd they until hnd work him motheromes dn and pua sp to t interrotion. it waseither aoluntary statemt norruthful e. anthe evidce to suort it room the, which leaves for reasonable doubt. amy: that is yusef salaam's attorney robert burns, played by blair underwood. he was a divorce attorney. can you talk about this, the lack of experience of the

parents? this is the first time their kids are encountering the justice system and how fast they had to work to figure out how could they save their children? i mean, for example, you have "the new york times" a few days after the kids are picked up, this is april 20 6, 1989, the headline -- and this is an editorial -- "the jogger in the wall pack." long beforenvicted this trial. >> before they even got into the courtroom the decision had been made, public opinion had been shaped and it happens are so many factors. imagine yourself being a parent who is a kid who is never been in trouble and does not even know how to maneuver and make their way through the maze that is the criminal justice system. they did not have the money. they did not have the know-how. they did the very best they could. itas imptant for me to show ong wi the acts who rtray the famies the rl

care, and a real glt, theeal effort tha they all erted to try d save tir sons. and theall stooby theirons ery step the wayfrom the mome you sawhe clip ere e boycknowledd they lht on each her, tse men ner they did it. they maintained their innocence for decades after. and endured great hardships in prison and in detention because of it. and the families did as well. creator,duvernay, cowriter, director of "when they see us." back with her in a moment. ♪ [music break]

amy: dr. john, passed away thursday at the age of 77. this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman. we spend the hour with ava duvernay, creator, writer, director of "when they see us," the new netflix four-part series based on the central park jogger case. she joined us in los angeles. i asked her what happened to the five teens of color, what are

african-american and one latino, after the wrongful convictions, particularly korey rise, the only one tried as an adult. the story of korey broke my heart. when i got to know him and spoke with him, i learnt so much about him but in the first 15 minutes of meeting him back in 2015, which is when i started this process, he told me there's no central park five. that always haunted me. i wanted to know why he thought that. i soon learned through conversations with him, through examinations of his records, what he endured. hard hard to speak of, issued, hard to write, but even harder to have endured and he did. he survived it. amy: brutality doesn't even begin to express what happened to korey and his adult prisons. it doesn't begin. >> andhat you e in theilm i was a about 7 to 75%

whate realntoward. hang been ivy to what real experiee w, it is r rit. 22, the yng men are now exonerated. after matias reyes, convicted murderer, who was serving a minimum of 33 years, came forward to claim sole responsibility for the attack. his dna matched what was at the crime scene. i personally knew this case of mejia because he raped a woman in my building, and that is how eventually he was caught. but his mo at the time, they're going after these young men who lived at the top of central park. he had the mo of going after women, gouging out their eyes, raping them and attempting to kill them. he thought he had killed the central park jogger, i believe.

so by focusing on these young men, they allowed him to continue his rampage that shows the other side of the bigotry of the racism. he continued to rape women and optimally tells korey wise in prison, no, i did it. >> you described it perfectly. the idea that the focus on these five boys to kind of white hands clean and to get a victory quickly while allowing the real rapist to continue on -- i mean, they knew very early on they did not have these -- they had no evidence. they knew they were helping these boys contrive stories. to do that and to allow whoever did this vicious assault to roam free is i think, one of the tragedies of this that is not talked about hardly enough. mattea's reyes, they did not

know his name at the time, but they knew there was a rapist who had a very specific mo. he worked alone. yet a specific way he went about his assaults. this guy was on the loose. it matched the way in which trisha meili was attacked and raped and yet they turned a blind eye toward that because they have these five boys, these vulnerable boys, had gotten them to say what they wanted them to say, and it was a story, to be frank with you, the media ate up. for the newa win york pd at the time that it really needed one. amy: and some of these detectives were the same ones reyesg with the matias case. >> it is important to name names. michael sheehan was the same detective on both. it also had the same judge, judge galligan. the same judge. they're looking at all of this evidence and are not able to parse out and do the job to see

where the real contrasts were, were the similarities were, because there was this ferocious, this fervor to put away the five. amy: said the young men, after they get out of prison, they are exonerated. on2016, yusef salaam join us democracy now! and i asked him about how them presidential candidate donald trump was continuing to say that yusef and the other young men were guilty. >> first, thank you for having me on your show. donald trump has the absolute ultimate ability to fact check everything about this case. one of the things that is really surprising is you have one of the jurors saying, he was going crazy, there was no evidence, no blood on the guys, but they can fast so that was that. but when you look at the nature of the confessions, when you look at the nature of what happened to get the confessions, how these confessions did not

match anything the other guys were saying, you know, and then all of a sudden, 13 years later the truth comes out and here you have a guy who talks about what happened at the crime scene, talks about when he struck the woman over the head with a tree branch, talks about dragging her into the woods, and key evidence that no one else had mentioned is that she was tied up with her own jogging outfit. donald trump the ability to look at all of this stuff and to put the truth out there, but i think it is more attractive to him to be divisive, to be negative. he is calling it a positive thing he did back in 1989. i mean, we're talking about this crime happened april 19, 1989. on may 1, donald trump had already taken out the ads that was being run in new york city newspapers calling for the death penalty to be reinstated. what was happening is we were given a social death. we were being tried in the media. they were getting ready to lynch us in public and through the

court system. if i had a show, i would tell donald trump he was fired. all of the things he is exhibiting today is very, very disturbing. nobody who is seeking presidency should even have any kind of shady dark past like donald trump. he is definitely not the man for these united states of america. amy: and mrs. raymond santana speaking on democracy now! in 2012 quarter years before y usef. >> i tried to get my life back together and put one for does one put in front of the other but i did not realize the social death that we were given as a sentence. this was not five to 10, this was a life sentence, death sentence in a sense because when i came home, i could not get employment. to fill out numerous

applications. i had to register as a sex offender. my whole neighborhood looked at me kind of strange. how youto the hi, doing, but you always have doubles i on your back -- the bull's-eye on your back. my family shunned away from you. i thought i was all alone. there was no way i could turn, no transitional programs for me to come back into society into. and be productive. so i crashed and did not know what to do. i turned back to crime and a started selling drugs. i got charged -- i got arrested and was charged with criminal possession with the intent to distribute. settled2014, the city for these five young men $41 million. they were exonerated. and yet you hear yusef salaam dealing in 2016, during the presidential campaign -- he said

that trump should be fired from the presidential campaign -- dealing with donald trump continuing to campaign against him saying he did not believe that they were innocent. ava duvernay? >> $41 million doesn't bring your youth back. we can all think back to when we were young, when we were free, learning, blossoming, and gauging with the world in new ways. these boys were behind bars. korey wise was in adult prison during that time. $41 million split between the five does nothing to the fact that no one has ever apolozed for this. the of the settlement of city was no apology. linda fairstein maintains they did it. who prosecuted the case maintains they did it.

bear that isn they greater than a dollar amount can be put on. and my great hope is that this piece of art canell thei sty loudly enoh sohat the re of us c alogize for tting th happen. e pubc was colicit. the press s as wel we need be able temand change wheit comeso these cases. this i notn anomal this case. it is t hard tbelieve ere are five ack and own boy someere bein interrogated or pulled off the street for something they did not do, that there are people we know behind bars who are only there because they cannot pay to get out. that a majority of people who are behind bars right now in this country have never seen a trial. the system is not broken, the system was built this way. built this way. it is important for us to understand what it is so we can

dismantle it and start again. it is truly -- i don't think will be in my lifetime or yours, but this work is important to continue to talk about what is happened here and to bear making sure there is a foundation of knowledge laid so we can get to a place where does not continue to happen. amy: ava duvernay, they get for being with us, writer, loser, -- producer of independent films, including the just-released four-part netflix series of the central park five case called "when they see us," of which she is the creator, writer and director. she is the winner of the emmy, bafta and peabody awards, and an academy award nominee. she is also the director of "selma," the criminal justice documentary "13th," and disney's "a wrinkle in time," among many other films. thank you so much for being with us. >> thank you, amy. fairstein whoda spearheaded the case against the five boys, the real person who committed the rape, matias reyes

, was still on the loose. he had beaten and attempted to rape a woman april 17, two days before the jogger was assaulted. that first victim gave the police a description of hymns saying he at stitches on his chin. a local hospital gave the police the name matias reyes and summon cupid that description. the police never followed up on that lead. after the five boys were arrested, he went on to beat and raped five women, murdering one of them, a pregnant woman of three. matias reyes was eventually captured when his last rape victim ran down the stairs screaming as he fled and tackled doorma dormant tackled him. rather than racially profiling and framing the five teenage boys, perhaps those rates and the murder of that young mother might have been prevented. journalist roland martin tweeted --

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>> this is al jazeera. hello, this is the news hour live from london. he ended his own country's war and now a deal be as leader is trying to end the crisis in sudan after monday's brutal crackdown. the u.n. says 4 million tennis women's