“Central Park Five” exoneree Raymond Santana called former President Trump’s verdict in his silence case “karma.”
“For me, it was a matter of karma,” Santana said during his Saturday appearance on CNN with anchor Victor Blackwell, highlighted by Mediaitis. “It was an example of this is what happens when rich billionaires who defend white privilege now have to answer, right?”
“Then it becomes a surreal moment. It also becomes a moment where you just take it in, right? That’s what we had to deal with in 1989: going through the trial, hearing the conviction, hearing the guilty verdict. And so now having to sit there and wait for the sentence. I understand this process very well.”
Santana, now an actor, is one of five black and Hispanic teenagers who were wrongly convicted of raping and murdering a white woman in 1989, in the same courtroom where Trump was tried. They each served prison sentences until 2002, when DNA evidence exonerated them.
Blackwell noted in the segment that the former president paid for full-page newspaper ads at the time that “called for the reinstatement of the death penalty in New York” following the charges against the boys, who were 14 and 15 at the time. .
Trump was found guilty of all 34 criminal charges in his New York hush money case, being convicted Thursday by a Manhattan jury of falsifying business records to hide alleged affairs during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Santana said it was a “surreal moment” to witness someone of Trump’s “stature” having a similar experience in court.
“And so I think now it’s like you can see a person of Donald Trump’s stature, right,” Santana said. “Who was a former president and now you see that he is not above the law, that he can be touched. May he have this experience very similar to mine. It becomes a surreal moment. It’s a full circle moment for me.”
When asked about Trump’s sentence, Santana said that “in a perfect world” he would love to see the former president go to prison, but said the only thing he can think about is asking the former president if “you think we’re still guilty?”
Reverend Al Sharpton also invoked the Central Park Five following Trump’s guilty verdict.
“These children have had to listen to criticism from people whose anger was incited by a man who spent a small fortune on full-page ads calling for their execution,” Sharpton said. “Now the shoe is on the other foot. Donald Trump is the criminal and these five men are innocent. I am reminded of Dr. King’s proverb that the arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
