A member of the exonerated Central Park Five whom former President Donald Trump once called for the execution of 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 who had been endorsed by Mayor Eric Adams – to get over 50 percent of the ballot in the city council’s 9th District Democratic Primary Tuesday.
Salaam’s campaign has gotten publicity from releasing multiple statements mocking Trump for the ad he put out in 1989 calling on the state to re-introduce the death penalty over the case, timed specifically to the former president’s indictments.
At a victory party in Harlem Friday, Salaam made mention of those ads without speaking the former president’s name.
‘There were large ads bought in 1989. A whisper for the state to kill us. A whisper, in fact, into the darkest enclaves of society for them to do to us what they had done to Emmitt Till.’
Yusef Salaam, a member of the exonerated Central Park Five whom former President Donald Trump once called for the execution of in an infamous newspaper ad has likely won a seat on the New York City Council
Trump reportedly spent $85,000 to run 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 BACK OUR POLICE’.
‘I want to hate these murderers and I always will,’ he continued in the piece. ‘I am not looking to psychoanalyze or understand them, I am looking to punish them.’
In his response to Trump’s arrest in April, Salaam said: ‘Now, after several decades and an unfortunate and disastrous presidency, we all know exactly who Donald J. Trump is – a man who seeks to deny justice and fairness for others, while claiming only innocence for himself.’
His campaign featured an ad that he took out using the same typeface and capital letters: ‘BRING BACK JUSTICE AND FAIRNESS! BUILD A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR CENTRAL HARLEM!’
Salaam referenced his time in prison immediately in his victory speech.
‘Started from the bottom, now we’re here,’ he said to rapturous cheers. ‘This campaign has been about those who have been counted out. This campaign has been about those who have been forgotten.’
With 99 percent of the ballots counted, Salaam has 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 choice voting system.
Salaam’s campaign has gotten publicity from releasing multiple statements mocking Trump for the ad he put out in 1989 calling on the state to re-introduce the death penalty over the case, timed specifically to the former president’s indictments
In a scathing 1989 full page ad, Donald Trump called for the death penalty to be reintroduced in New York in response to the Central Park Five case
Following Trump’s arrest in April, Salaam mimicked Trump’s letter as he mocked him for his ‘disastrous presidency’
The candidates he defeated included Inez E. Dickens, who Democratic Mayor Eric Adams had endorsed 12 days before the primary, despite largely staying away from endorsing candidates this year.
Dickens had been an early endorser of Adams’ successful campaign for mayor in 2021. She finished second at 25 percent.
Her campaign admitted they were going to lose Tuesday night, according to City and State.
Kristin Richardson Jordan, a self-described democratic socialist and police abolitionist, declined to run for re-election but still received nine percent of the vote.
State Assemblyman Al Taylor finished in third place with 14 percent of the ballots.
His would be Central Harlem seat leans heavily Democratic, as a Republican has never gotten more than 12 percent of the vote in the district.
In 1989, Salaam was among five black and Latino teenagers who were wrongly 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 reached a settlement with the City of New York over the wrongful arrest, Trump responded by remarking that ‘settling doesn’t mean innocence.’
The members of the Central Park Five speak at the 2019 BET Awards. Pictured, left to right: Korey Wise, Raymond Sanatana Jr, Yusef Saleem, Antron McCray, and Kevin Richardson
Yusef Salaam, back right, pictured leaving court in June, 1990
Donald Trump pictured in his arraignment hearing in a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday
Salaam spoke about his time in what he called ‘the belly of the beast’ in his remarks Tuesday, talking about what he had learned about the justice system during that time.
‘I was gifted because I was able to see it for what it really was. A system that was trying to make me believe that I was my ancestors’ wildest nightmares. But I am my ancestors’ wildest dreams.’
He ran on a platform of a so-called ‘Equity & Empowerment Agenda’ that included ‘thoughtful input from all of Harlem, particularly those who have been the most marginalized – Black and brown communities, women, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities — because we know that those closest to the pain are often closest to the solution.’
Salaam also campaigned on left wing goals such as housing being a human right, economic justice, justice and safety reform and environmental justice
Following 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 remain today.
‘I have lived through a form of trauma that many of us experience in some way every day throughout 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 slashed across the newspapers a generation ago – inadequate housing, underfunded schools, public safety concerns, and a lack of good jobs – became worse during Donald Trump’s time in office.’
Salaam campaigned on left wing goals such as housing being a human right, economic justice, justice and safety reform and environmental justice
Salaam arriving at New York State Supreme Court at the age of 16
Salaam said that he is running for office himself to ‘change that’, as he condemned Trump’s actions as president, such as during the January 6 riot, as ‘an attack on our safety’.
‘Now that you have been indicted and are facing criminal charges, I do not resort to hatred, bias or racism – as you once did,’ he added.
‘Even though thirty-four years ago you effectively called for my death and the death of four other innocent children, I wish you no harm.’
Salaam said he was putting his ‘faith in the judicial system’ to find the truth, and after hitting out at Trump for ‘seeking to obliterate’ civil liberties, he maintained hope that ‘you get what the Exonerated Five did not get – a presumption of innocence and a fair trial’.
‘And if the charges are proven and you are found guilty, I hope that you endure whatever penalties are imposed with the same strength and dignity that the Exonerated Five showed as we served our punishment for a crime we did not commit.’
On Tuesday night, Salaam clearly referenced his time in prison and the public calls for his execution as he come out of it a likely elected official.
‘They made us into pariahs but look at our life, my whole life is being restored,’ he said.
