Central Park 5 a review by Tahir Wallen

      The Central Park 5 Movie was a eye opener for me, it showed me that even though the north was the first to do away with slavery and also be the first to somewhat over come racism, it still happens every day and everywhere. It was surprising to me that the police officers would still try to wrongly convict the five guys even though they didn’t have a lot of evidence on them. The police also tried to persuade them into saying things that didn’t really happen just to solve the case without the five guys having proper legal counsel and not letting their parents sit in on the questioning.
       It was also good to know that someone else went through something similar to my situation and turned it into a positive thing. It was interesting meeting one of the guys that were a part of the Central Park 5. His name was Yusef Salaam. Even though he wouldn’t remember me besides the fact that we shook hands and spoke for a bit, it was still quite interesting meeting him and learning how he dealt with the trial and the struggles that came with it.  Even though he isn’t aware of the impact he had on my life, he also helped me resolve some of the anger that remained from years ago in a earlier trial and speaking to him helped me forgive the other person.
     The Movie was a great documentary on the situation that happened in the 80’s to these young guys and showed how they had to grow up quicker than expected.  It also showed that even though they’ve been through many horrible experiences, they were still optimistic about it in the end.  The movie and meeting Yusef that day helped me with some hidden anger issues I had and for that, I am glad I seen the documentary and would advise any youth of any race to go see the movie because it is an eye opener.

Submitted by Tahir Wallen