500 signatures reached
To: Pennsylvania federal district courts
Hold Donald Trump accountable for continued lies against the Exonerated Five!
During the presidential debate in September, Donald Trump used the national stage to spread lies about Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Antron McCray, Korey Wise, and Yusef Salaam—innocent men who were previously known as the Central Park Five and now known as the Exonerated Five.
The Exonerated Five are suing Trump for defamation. Add your name to the petition to demand the federal district court in Pennsylvania hold him accountable!
Why is this important?
In 1989, five Black and Latino teenage boys—Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Antron McCray, Korey Wise, and Yusef Salaam—were wrongly convicted of attempted murder, rape, assault, and rioting due to racism in the New York City criminal legal system. Throughout their trial and incarceration, the teenagers pleaded not guilty and maintained their innocence.
It wasn't until 13 years later that the truth would come out, that these five children were unjustly convicted, their childhood robbed, and the course of their lives completely changed.
In 2002, a judge overturned the sentences for the falsely convicted men, often referred to as the Central Park Five but who now call themselves the Exonerated Five. But that didn't stop Trump during the presidential debate last month from spreading lies about these innocent men on a national stage.
67 million people tuned into the presidential debate. 67 million people heard Trump spread harmful misinformation about these men, who have suffered enough through years of incarceration for a crime they didn’t commit. Add your name to the petition to demand Trump be held accountable NOW!
Back in 1989, Trump—then just a real estate developer who was trying to make his soon-to-be bankrupt casinos and airline take off—took out $85,000 in ads referencing the Central Park assault and stating “BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY.” The widely circulated ads and open letter Trump wrote inflamed the already-charged environment, negatively shaping public opinion about the five children.
Instead of apologizing for his role in fanning the flames of fear, division, and racism over the past three decades, Trump has not only doubled down on his attacks against the Exonerated Five, but also intensified his dehumanizing and toxic rhetoric to attack Black and Latinx communities, immigrants, and marginalized communities across the country—putting their lives, freedoms, and futures in literal danger.
The criminal legal system failed Richardson, Santana, McCray, Wise, and Salaam back in 1989. Today, we are demanding that they uphold justice and hold Trump accountable for his lies and attacks against them.