On April 19, 1989, 28-year-old investment banker Trisha Meili, a white woman, was jogging in Manhattan’s Central Park when she was hit over the head with a rock, tied-up, gagged, and raped. It was a crime that would shock the nation, and deepen the already rancorous divisions in racially divided New York.
“Bring back the death penalty. Bring back our police!” the ads read. They were a thinly-veiled reference to the suspected perpetrators of the crime, 15-year-old Yusef Salaam, 14-year-old Raymond Santana, 14-year-old Kevin Richardson, 15-year-old Antron McCray and 16-year-old Korey Wise.
Four of the boys were black, one was Latino.
The boys, who confessed after several hours of sleep deprivation, interrogation, and beatings by the NYPD, were found guilty and given sentences of five to fifteen years in prison.
By then, the boys had already spent seven years in prison. Although they won a $41 million dollar settlement, the damage was done.
Trump never apologized, and even now, still says the boys were guilty.
Yusef Salaam believes Trump is partly to blame for their false imprisonment. “He was the fire starter,” Salaam said to The Guardian. “Common citizens were being manipulated and swayed into believing that we were guilty.”
Michael D’Antonio, who wrote The Truth About Trump agrees.
“He has this penchant for what you might call otherising,” D’Antonio said. “I think he knew what he was doing by taking a side, and I think he knew he was aligning himself with law and order, especially white law and order. I don’t think that he was consciously saying ‘I’d like to whip up racial animosity’, but his impulse is to run into conflict and controversy rather than try to help people understand what might be going on in a reasoned way.”
On Tuesday, Sayfullo Saipov, an immigrant from Uzbekistan plowed into a crowded bike path in Manhattan, killing eight people and injuring 11. ISIS later claimed responsibility for the attacks, and Saipov, who survived, reportedly asked for an ISIS flag in his room.
It was a national tragedy, and a horrific moment for the nation.
He then followed it up with this tweet:
…There is also something appropriate about keeping him in the home of the horrible crime he committed. Should move fast. DEATH PENALTY!
I see you haven’t changed since the “CentralParkFive days! Will you take out a full-page ad in the New York Times calling for death penalty?
— COGIC Family Service (@COGICFamily) November 2, 2017 undefined
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If you look at these pictures and only see one terrorist, you are a racist, disgraceful, reprobate riling up your racist base! pic.twitter.com/EBdctvYsN2
Your “extreme vetting” would’ve kept out Steve Jobs’ father, a Syrian refugee. You couldn’t tweet racist nonsense on ur iPhone this morning! pic.twitter.com/qkVV2DV4KD
Advocating the death penalty before trial isn’t justice, it’s a lynching. I despise what this man did to our city, but Trump is wrong here. https://t.co/YM80cFj7B6
Trump makes a mockery of our system of gov’t, our judicial system, & has obstructed justice several times now. Calling for the death penalty on a suspect who hasn’t gone to trial yet is just another offense @GOP will let him continue for his reality shitshow presidency.
— Alt Fed Employee (@Alt_FedEmployee) November 2, 2017 undefined
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White man killed 7.5x more people in LV. Trump wouldn’t even say “gun/guns” in speech. Now tweets “DEATH PENALTY!” because of race/religion.
As Chris Cilliza of CNN stated, “Trump is more than willing to seize on tragic events when they confirm his previous political and policy beliefs. He will effectively ignore them when they don’t.”
The answer is even simpler than that.
Trump only attacks a certain kind of person, and that person is overwhelmingly female, foreign, and black or brown-skinned.
In the President’s eyes, the true threat to America is anyone who doesn’t look like him.
