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Ken Burns: The Central Park Five

Being from New York, this film immediately caught my attention. The award winning filmmaker Ken Burns produced this movie in order to share stories from various black and Latino teenagers from Harlem who had been wrongly convicted. These teens allegedly raped white woman in central park at the same time drugs and gangs grew to be the norm in New York City. This film takes place in New York City in the late 1980’s, the City was described to have a social mote that divided the danger from the safety, however crime was spreading at this time which was all throughout the city. The crack wars begun which meant teenagers were carrying guns which lead to the rise of crime rates.

Research says “The most endangered species in the late 1980’s was the young black male.” Real men who had been wrongly convicted share their teenage stories from this time. The police were after these black and Latino teenagers that had been minding their own business the night of April 19^th 1989 in Central Park. “The only crime I committed that night was jumping over the Subway gate.” A false convict explained. A Latino male gets emotional while sharing his story from that night, after being chased by the police they called him an animal and beat him. Once he had been handcuffed and taken to prison the guards asked him what was on his face – he had explained a police officer had hit him and the fellow employees asked to point them out as if he was lying.
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