New York Attorney General Letitia James. Tell me she don’t look just like justice, y’all. AP file photo
Issue #259 OpEd February 20, 2023
While we are on vacation this week, we are re-publishing some of our posts that were well-liked by our readers. This op-ed from last winter is still very relevant!
CAUTION: Some strong language.
On April 19, 1989, in New York City’s Central Park, a young white woman named Trisha Meili was beaten nearly to death and raped while jogging at around 9 p.m. Her body, which had been dragged off the path, was not discovered until nearly 5 hours later at 1:30 a.m.
This unfortunate incident became the spark that lit what came to be known as the case of the Central Park Jogger. Because my primary focus of this post lies elsewhere, I’m not going to retrace every step of that case. But if you need to refresh your memory, or if you actually don’t know about this incident, just follow the link.
The brief version is that five young Black men were wrongfully charged and convicted for the assault and had their lives turned upside down and destroyed until the one Latino man who actually committed the assault finally came forward after nearly 12 years and confessed. The “Central Park Five” were all exonerated and released from prison and ultimately received a $41 million settlement after filing a civil suit against New York City upon their release.
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Trisha Meili was willfully complicit in the wrongful prosecution of those young men. Their names were Kevin Richardson, 14; Raymond Santana, 14; Antron McCray, 15; Yusef Salaam, 15; and Korey Wise, 15. There is no way Meili didn’t know they weren’t the ones who assaulted her when the truth turned out to be that it was only one guy - not five - whose DNA was subsequently used to confirm his guilt.
(From Wikipedia) On May 1, 1989, Donald Trump — at the time a real estate magnate — called for the return of the death penalty for murder in full-page advertisements published in all four of the city's major newspapers. Trump said he wanted the "criminals of every age [who were accused of beating and raping the jogger in Central Park twelve days earlier] to be afraid".[2][43] The advertisement, which cost an estimated US$85,000 (equivalent to $186,000 in 2021),[2][43] said, in part:
Mayor Koch has stated that hate and rancor should be removed from our hearts. I do not think so. I want to hate these muggers and murderers. They should be forced to suffer ... Yes, Mayor Koch, I want to hate these murderers and I always will. ... How can our great society tolerate the continued brutalization of its citizens by crazed misfits? Criminals must be told that their Civil Liberties End When an Attack On Our Safety Begins!
This was hardly the first time that innocent Black men were targeted as scapegoats to satisfy the blood lust of whites after a white female “damsel in distress” was falsely portrayed as the victim of whatever crime those whites felt like coming up with. Indeed, entire towns and neighborhoods have been torched because some white woman was falsely accused of being violated by some Black man. The Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, also known as “Black Wall Street”, was burned to the ground on May 31-June 1 of 1921 by an angry white mob in what was the bloodiest race riot of the century, resulting in the murder of more than 100 African Americans. This happened because a Black man got onto an elevator with a white woman who later accused that Black man of touching her. At the time, the Greenwood District was the wealthiest Black neighborhood in the country.
Today, as Citizen Trump faces multiple lawsuits in multiple jurisdictions, both State and Federal, charged with a multiplicity of crimes that I don’t even have time to list, there is reason to smile - and possibly dance a few gleeful steps - for those of us who truly despise the man and wish him only the absolute worst in life and beyond. Because the fate of Citizen Trump is now largely in the hands of two Black women. Two powerful Black women. Two very well-educated Black women. Two Black women who do not play. One in the North. One in the South.
Letitia “Tish” James, New York State’s first Black Attorney General and also its first female Attorney General; and Fani Willis, the first Black female District Attorney of Fulton County Georgia.
Ruh-roh. I think the sister is serious. Fani T. Willis. Credit: AP Photo/John Bazemore
Because while U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland continues to try and get all his ducks in a row before firing a shot (and I continue to hope that he eventually will do the right thing and make a move), James and Willis (almost sounds like a couple of Texas Rangers, doesn’t it?) are leading the charge to rain down all sorts of pain in the form of justice on Citizen Trump, who is about to find out what Black people have known for a very long time; don’t fuck with Black women. Especially not the smart ones.
Concerning Tish James, her office and Trump have been locking legal horns since 2020, when she filed a prior lawsuit claiming the former president’s camp was stonewalling her investigation.
In response to James’ probe, Trump filed two lawsuits against her office claiming she was targeting him for political gain, according to a story in the New York Post.
“One of the cases was dismissed, and the other Trump dropped. James has since filed a $250 million lawsuit against Trump, his kids Eric, Ivanka, Donald Trump Jr., and the family real estate company for “staggering” fraud — including allegedly overvaluing company assets for loan, insurance and tax benefits,” the story says.
As for Fani Willis, she is the first Black woman to lead Georgia’s largest district attorney’s office. She spent 19 years as a prosecutor and led more than 100 jury trials. Since becoming the chief prosecutor in January of 2021, her conviction rate stands at around 90 percent. As we speak, it is up to Sister Willis to decide whether to indict Citizen Trump and his allies for trying to overturn the results of his 2020 election loss in Georgia. That unprecedented decision could be made within a matter of days.
Trump never apologized for those ads he ran attacking the Central Park Five once they were exonerated of all wrongdoing, but I figure that’s OK. Trump gonna Trump. But if Trump gets brought down by James and Willis? Black Lives will matter more to him than he ever thought possible.
Have you heard of the “Central Park Five?” Do you think Donald Trump will finally be indicted in the near future?
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Great headline. Let’s hope this “works” in regards to him at least