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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCentral Park Five prosecutor resigns from organizations amid backlash after Netflix series
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/central-park-five-prosecutor-resigns-organizations-amid-backlash-after-netflix-n1013881Central Park Five prosecutor resigns from organizations amid backlash after Netflix series
Linda Fairstein's role in the notorious case is under new scrutiny in the wake of director Ava DuVernay's Netflix miniseries, "When They See Us.
Former Manhattan prosecutor Linda Fairstein resigned from Vassar College's board of trustees Tuesday amid a new wave of backlash over her role in the infamous Central Park Five case.
Fairstein's role in the wrongful conviction and imprisonment of five teenagers of color in 1990, after a white woman was attacked in Central Park, has come under new scrutiny after director Ava DuVernay released a Netflix miniseries about the case, "When They See Us."
The so-called Central Park Five Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Korey Wise and Yusef Salaam were vindicated 13 years after the crime when a serial rapist confessed to the attack.
Fairstein played by Felicity Huffman in "When They See Us" ran the district attorney's sex crimes unit at the time of the case. The Netflix series prompted the #CancelLindaFairstein hashtag on social media and calls for her prior cases to be re-examined.
Vassar College President Elizabeth Bradley announced that Fairstein resigned from the board because she "believed that her continuing as a Board member would be harmful to Vassar" due to the backlash.
"The events of the last few days have underscored how the history of racial and ethnic tensions in this country continue to deeply influence us today, and in ways that change over time," Bradley said.
Students at Vassar began an online petition to remove Fairstein from the board and gained more than 13,000 signatures in two days, sparking the school to call an executive committee review to discuss the concerns.
ck4829
(35,037 posts)ProfessorPlum
(11,253 posts)glad this travesty of justice is causing some slight discomfort to the real perpetrators.
Solly Mack
(90,758 posts)Takket
(21,526 posts)brilliant documentary.
so sad..................... i saw the horrors Corey Wise lived through. the beatings.... for an innocent man... and yet he endured them instead of admitting to a crime he did not commit for parole.
it infuriates me that this human FILTH Fairstein is still walking around free of any consequence for what she did. Because of her, 5 innocent children missed out on some of the best years of their lives, and Trisha Ellen Meili never even got justice in a court room for what was done to her.
It took the desire of a rapist to confess is sins, NOT the work of investigators, for the 5 to be released and their convictions vacated.
Fairstein even had the audacity to say DuVarnay (who made the documentary) had defamed her.
Fairstein parlayed her celebrity from the case into multiple book deals and lived a comfortable life for herself.
She never cared about the facts or the truth. All she cared about was sending as many black kids as she could to prison, and securing fame for herself by closing the case quickly. She should be made to pay for what she has done.