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Dr. Yusef Salaam was just fifteen years old when his life was upended after being wrongly convicted with four other boys in the "Central Park jogger" case. In 2002, after the young men spent years of their lives behind bars, their sentences were overturned. Now known as the Exonerated Five, their story has been documented in the award-winning film The Central Park Five by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon and in Ava DuVernay's highly acclaimed series When They See Us. Yusef is now a poet, activist, and inspirational speaker. He is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from President Barack Obama, among other honors. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife, Sanovia, and their children.
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When I initially started writing, it was because, like many young brothers, I wanted to be a hip-hop artist. I had been writing rhymes since I was eleven or twelve years old. The "Central Park Five jogger" case happened in 1989, during an era in music when message-driven hip-hop songs were hot. Self Destruction, KRS-One's Love's Gonna Get'cha, and Public Enemy were some of the artists and songs that were shaping my style as a writer and were essentially the soundtrack of my life. I especially gravitated toward Public Enemy, who came out with a flow that sounded less like rap and more like a speech.
When I was convicted, it was the start of me realizing that I needed to say something. I wondered how I was going to speak my truth. For the first time, I realized that this art form I had been honing since childhood, hip-hop, was going to allow me to get my message across at this most critical point in my life.
On the day I was convicted, I remember being in and out of the courtroom. I had my shades on, head up, trying to feel and look confident, trying to be strong in the face of a very serious situation. At the same time, and still after everything we had already been through, I'd held out hope that the system would not fail us,...
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