YUSEF SALAAM & KEVIN RICHARDSON, THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE / 2019 SOCIAL IMPACT AWARD

 Featured in: Ava Duvernay’s Netflix Emmy-nominated series: WHEN THEY SEE US

It’s a privilege to pay tribute to and welcome for an intimate talk, motivational speaker Kevin Richardson and Yusef Salaam (for a second time at the Festival) who was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in 2014 and received the President’s Life Time Achievement Award in 2016 from President Barack Obama. On April 19, 1989, a young woman in the prime of her life was brutally raped and left for dead in New York City’s Central Park. Five boys were tried and convicted of the crime in a frenzied case that rocked the city. Yusef Salaam, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise became known collectively as “The Central Park Five.” Their convictions were vacated in 2002 after spending between seven (7) and thirteen (13) years of their lives behind bars. The unidentified DNA in the Central Park Jogger Case, unlinked to any of the five, had finally met its owner, a convicted murderer and serial rapist who confessed. The convictions of the boys, now men, were overturned and they were exonerated. In 2014, they received a multi-million-dollar settlement from the city of New York for its grievous injustice against them.

Moderated by FABIENNE COLAS, Actress, Filmmaker, MIBFF President & Founder

General Admission includes:

Tribute & Conference (7PM)

VIP Package includes:

Meet & Great cocktail (6PM)

Photo with Yusef Salaam & Kevin Richardson

Conference (7PM)

Don’t forget to bring your camera!!

BIOGRAPHY

Yusef Salaam

"On April 19, 1989, a young woman in the prime of her life was brutally raped and left for dead in New York City’s Central Park. Five boys—four black and one Latino—were tried and convicted of the crime in a frenzied case that rocked the city. They became known collectively as “The Central Park Five.” Their convictions were vacated in 2002 after spending between seven (7) and thirteen (13) years of their lives behind bars. The unidentified DNA in the Central Park Jogger Case, unlinked to any of the five, had finally met its owner, a convicted murderer and serial rapist who confessed. The convictions of the boys, now men, were overturned and they were exonerated. One of those boys, Yusef Salaam, was just 15 years old when his life was upended and changed forever. Since his release, Yusef has committed himself to advocating and educating people on the issues of false confessions, police brutality and misconduct, press ethics and bias, race and law, and the disparities in America’s criminal justice system. In 2013, documentarians Ken and Sarah Burns released the documentary “The Central Park Five,” which told of this travesty from the perspective of Yusef and his cohorts. In 2014, The Central Park Five received a multi-million-dollar settlement from the city of New York for its grievous injustice against them. Yusef was awarded an Honorary Doctorate that same year and received the President's Life Time Achievement Award in 2016 from President Barack Obama.  He was appointed to the board of the Innocence Project in 2018 and has released a Netflix Feature limited series called “When They See Us” base on the true story of the “Central Park Five” with Ava DuVernay, Oprah Winfrey and Robert De Niro, in May of 2019." 

 

Kevin Richardson 

1/5th of the Exonerated five whom resides now in NJ. I've been married now for three years, with two daughters the ages of 11 and 18 months. I want to lay down the foundation for them to carry on with the family's name. I am a motivational speaker as well and striving to open up ( my wife & I that is ) an event planning business... Using my platform to raise awareness is therapeutic in a way that it's touching others globally. I have dreams and aspirations to change the criminal landscape of this unjust society that we live in.