A member of the exonerated Central Park Five, who former President Donald Trump once called for his execution in an infamous newspaper ad, has likely won a seat on the New York City Council.
Yusef Salaam defeated multiple candidates — including the incumbent and a candidate endorsed by Mayor Eric Adams — to receive more than 50 percent of the vote in the City Council’s 9th District Democratic Primary Tuesday. More than 80 percent of the district’s registered voters are Democratic, while only three percent are Republican.
Salaam’s campaign has gained publicity by releasing multiple statements mocking Trump for the ad he ran in 1989 and calling for the state to reintroduce the death penalty for the case, timed specifically to the charges of the former president.
At a victory celebration in Harlem, Salaam mentioned those ads without mentioning the former president’s name.
Big ads bought in 1989. A whisper for the state to kill us. Basically a whisper in the darkest enclaves of society that they would do to us what they did to Emmitt Till.”
Yusef Salaam, a member of the exonerated Central Park Five, who former President Donald Trump once called for his execution in an infamous newspaper ad, has likely won a seat on the New York City Council
Trump reportedly spent $85,000 running full-page ads against the Central Park Five — now known as the Exonerated Five — in a number of New York newspapers.
In his 1989 ad, Trump used his now-synonymous all-caps as he titled the page, “BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY.” BRING OUR POLICE BACK’.
“I want to hate these killers and I always will,” he continued in the piece. “I don’t want to psychoanalyze or understand them, I want to punish them.”
Reacting to Trump’s arrest in April, Salaam said: “Now, after decades and an unhappy and disastrous presidency, we all know exactly who Donald J. Trump is – a man who seeks to deny justice and fairness to others, while he only claims innocence for himself.’
His campaign featured an ad he ran using the same font and capitalization: “BRING BACK JUSTICE AND FAIRNESS! BUILD A BETTER FUTURE FOR CENTRAL HARLEM!’
Salaam immediately referred to his time in prison in his victory speech.
“Started at the bottom, now we’re here,” he said to frenzied cheers. “This campaign was about those who are counted down. This campaign was about those who have been forgotten.’
With 99 percent of the vote counted, Salaam won 50.14 percent of the vote, which would allow him to win the seat without having to go through New York City’s ranked electoral system.
Salaam’s campaign has gained publicity by releasing multiple statements mocking Trump for the ad he ran in 1989 and calling for the state to reintroduce the death penalty for the case, timed specifically to the charges of the former president.
In a scathing full-page ad from 1989, Donald Trump called for the reintroduction of the death penalty in New York in response to the Central Park Five case
After Trump’s arrest in April, Salaam imitated Trump’s letter while mocking him for his ‘disastrous presidency’
The candidates he defeated included Inez E. Dickens, who had supported Democratic mayor Eric Adams 12 days before the primary, despite largely staying away from endorsing candidates this year.
Dickens was an early supporter of Adams’s successful campaign for mayor in 2021. She finished second with 25 percent.
Her campaign admitted they would lose Tuesday night, according to City and state.
Kristin Richardson Jordan, a self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist and police abolitionist, declined to run for re-election but still received 9 percent of the vote.
State Assemblyman Al Taylor finished in third place with 14 percent of the vote.
His prospective seat in Central Harlem has a strong Democratic leaning, as a Republican has never received more than 12 percent of the district’s vote.
In 1989, Salaam was one of five black and Latino teens falsely suspected and convicted of sexually assaulting a white woman in Manhattan’s Central Park. His conviction was vacated in 2002.
In 2014, after the Central Park Five members settled with the City of New York over the wrongful arrest, Trump responded by noting that “settlement does not mean innocence.”
The members of the Central Park Five speak at the 2019 BET Awards. Pictured, from left to right: Korey Wise, Raymond Sanatana Jr, Yusef Saleem, Antron McCray, and Kevin Richardson
Yusef Salaam, rear right, pictured leaving court in June 1990
Donald Trump pictured during his arraignment hearing in a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday
Salaam spoke in his remarks on Tuesday about his time in what he called “the belly of the beast,” sharing what he had learned about the justice system during that time.
“I was gifted because I could see it for what it really was. A system that tried to make me believe I was the wildest nightmares of my ancestors. But I am the wildest dreams of my ancestors.’
He ran on a platform of what is called an “Equity & Empowerment Agenda” with “thoughtful input from all of Harlem, especially those most marginalized — black and brown communities, women, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities — because we know that those closest to the pain are often also closest to the solution.”
Salaam also campaigned for left-wing causes such as housing as a human right, economic justice, justice and security reform, and environmental justice
After his scathing rebuke of Trump’s arrest, Salaam used the rest of his ad to argue that many of the issues that led to his wrongful arrest 30 years ago still exist today.
“I have experienced a form of trauma that many of us experience in some way every day in our country,” he said.
My past is an example of systemic oppression by the injustice system.
But the problems our community faced when my name was dropped from newspapers a generation ago — inadequate housing, underfunded schools, public safety concerns, and a lack of good jobs — got worse during Donald Trump’s tenure. .’
Salaam campaigned for leftist causes such as housing as a human right, economic justice, justice and security reform, and environmental justice
Salaam arrives at the New York State Supreme Court at the age of 16
Salaam said he himself is a candidate to “change that,” as he condemned Trump’s actions as president, such as during the January 6 riot, as “an attack on our security.”
“Now that you have been charged and are facing criminal charges, I am not resorting to hatred, bias or racism – as you once did,” he added.
“Even though you effectively called for my death and the deaths of four other innocent children thirty-four years ago, I wish you no harm.”
Salaam said he put his “trust in the justice system” to find the truth, and after berating Trump for “trying to erase civil liberties,” he continued to hope that “you get what the Exonerated Five didn’t get — a suspicion. of innocence and due process’.
“And if the charges are proven and you are found guilty, I hope you face the sentences meted out with the same strength and dignity that the Exonerated Five showed when we served our sentence for a crime we didn’t commit.”
On Tuesday night, Salaam clearly referred to his time in prison and the public is calling for his execution as he emerges as a likely elected official.
“They’ve made pariahs out of us, but look at our life, my whole life is being restored,” he said.