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Yusef Salaam (born 1974) is an American politician, motivational speaker, and activist currently serving as a member of the New York City Council, representing the city's 9th councilmatic district since 2024.
On the night of April 19, 1989, a 28-year-old female jogger was brutally attacked and raped in New York’s Central Park. She was found unconscious with her skull fractured, her body temperature at 84 degrees, and 75 percent of her blood drained from her body.
The remaining five—Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise (known as the Central Park Five, later the Exonerated Five)—were convicted of the charged offenses and served sentences ranging from seven to thirteen years.
- Guilty Until Proven Innocent
- 'Dream That Impossible Dream'
- Leaving Prison Behind
Police picked up the five teenagers after a string of violent incidents were reported in Central Park on April 19, 1989. Salaam said they were questioned without legal representation, and were coerced by police into making confessions. Those statements were later ruled admissible in court. During the high-profile trials, Salaam said that he and his...
Entering prison, Salaam worried he wouldn't make it out again. "We were told that going to prison for rape was the worst crime that you can go to prison for ... and inmates have their own way of dealing with that kind of atrocity," said Salaam. But on the inside, he said he felt protected by his faith, and his resolve for the future. "If you let th...
In prison, Salaam said he was always looking over his shoulder, and had to have eyes in the back of his head. Leaving that behind, and "turning off all of the things that you turned on as a part of your survival," has been a challenge, he said. But he feels he's adjusted well, and said that some of those habits, like always being ready in case thin...
May 26, 2021 · In 1989, 15-year-old Yusef Salaam was one of five Black and Latino teenagers who were wrongly accused of assault and rape in the so-called Central Park jogger case.
Nov 8, 2023 · Salaam, who spent seven years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, ran unopposed for a Harlem district and won in 2023. He is one of the five Black and Latino teens falsely accused of raping a white woman in Central Park in 1989.
Jul 12, 2023 · Donald Trump never apologized for calling Salaam and four others to be put to death, even after they were exonerated.
