the five young men wrongfully convicted in the infamous Central Park jogger case will be somewhat compensated for the miscarriage of justice

Last week, five Black and Latino men who were falsely charged and convicted in the 1989 rape and assault of a female jogger will be given a total of $40 million in a settlement reached between the men and New York City.

Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, and Kharey Wise were all convicted and sentenced in 1990, but were exonerated in 2002, which were rightfully followed by their civil lawsuits. A long time felon named Matias Reyes confessed to the crimes and his confession was backed by DNA evidence. Bloomberg’s administration argued that the city had probable causeand fought hard to have the young men’s civil suits dismissed. Mayor De Blasio made a campaign promise last year to settle this racially charged case and made good on his promise.

Reverend Al Sharpton, who was highly criticized for coming to the young men’s defense, saluted the $40 million settlement.“We took a lot of abuse. The toll on these men and their supporters was terrible. I want to know we have things in place so that this doesn’t happen again.”

-Sha Be Allah(@KingPenStatus)