The Central Park Five
Over the years, in all my education and reading there wasn't a single moment that called my attention to the The Central Park Five. During the Spring semester of 2014, I taught a class that focused on Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. This included a digital screening of the Scottsboro Nine documentary, An American Tragedy. During the same semester I also became aware of the Kids for Cash scheme in Pennsylvania and other issues highlighted in our research of the criminal justice system, specifically about juvenile justice. I mention this because of the historic connection to injustice that we need to understand between The Central Park Five and the Scottsboro Nine. As Dr. Cornel West would describe... this is Jim Crow, Jr. carrying on the work of Jim Crow, Sr.
My memory doesn't serve me well when I try to remember "when" I first heard about The Central Park Five. At the time the media ran with the story, I was no more than 9 years old and for years the only thing I can remember about The Central Park Five growing up in the Southwest was that something bad happened in a big park... even when I visited New York in 2008, going past the park conjured up a negative feeling and stigma. I didn't care to see anything beyond what I saw from the cab window.
Fast forward years later, browsing through Netflix I stumbled across a dark documentary cover with the words "The Central Park Five" in bold gray. At first glance I didn't notice the details of the city of New York on one of the beams of justice with the caricatures of five central figures on the other. I didn't notice the fine print that this was a Ken Burns documentary. As a matter of fact I didn't figure out that Ken Burns was involved until the credits at the end. I'm a big fan of Burns work on Jazz and of course the Jack Johnson story, Unforgivable Blackness. As I'm learning more about the film, I'm also in awe of the story behind the making of it through Ken's daughter Sarah Burns, who's work as a student brought life to its production.
Over the past couple of years, I've also listened to The Combat Jack Show. It's a podcast archived on Soundcloud hosted by a former lawyer and Hip Hop Alumni. On several occasions listening to the podcast I recall Combat and hosts talking about a "classic" interview with one of the members of The Central Park Five. As Combat's program has a strong focus on the Hip Hop world, that is what triggered me to stop what I was doing and finally watch the documentary when I scrolled passed it on Netflix. I didn't hear the interview yet but just hearing Combat mention "The Central Park Five" made me tell myself... "man, let me watch this film and see what it's all about already..."
The Central Park Five, like the Scottsboro Nine are stories we need to hold on to and pass on. This story has everything to do with our responsibilities as students and teachers. The lessons here go beyond the goal for closure with a relentless adversary like the city of New York. After watching the film I've explored the net and YouTube for interviews and discussions centered around the film. Since watching the The Central Park Five documentary I also found The Combat Jack Show with Raymond Santana and listened to it. I'm grateful to say that this story is no longer a mystery to me. And as I watched a YouTube video of the group discuss the film at the Harvard Law School a few years ago, I couldn't help but think about Kalief Browder who was still in Rikers at the time of the Harvard screening.
There's a lot to be said, but even more so to look forward to as we work our way through the collateral impact of The Central Park Five. Especially as a source of inspiration and creativity to how we interact with these issues, how we learn, how we teach, how we share, and how we choose to get involved.
To learn more I highly recommend Twitter for its mobile access... There are several hashtags that will connect you to people's responses and thoughts about the film including the hashtag #TheCentralPark5. On Twitter you can also link with the filmmakers and members of The Central Park Five, including Raymond Santana and Yusef Abdus Salaam.
Peace.
