The Central Park 5 are said to have not had parents present during interrogation. Rumor has it that the police did not feed them. People have said that the police did not read them their rights. Was it the truth?
The Netflix series, ‘When They See Us’, would have you believe that the police mistreated the five. However, my research has told a very different story. One of lies deception and mistruths. Ava DuVernay and The Burns’ presented most of those mistruths. But, they has also come from the lips of the five themselves. The five have claimed that they did not have parents present during the interrogation. They have also claimed that the police made them wait without being fed or read their rights.
What people decide to believe is often dependent on the worldview that they have about race relations in America. So many people think that race played a significant role in this case. The only evidence of that, however, is the fact that the five were Black and Brown, and the victim, Patricia Meili, was a Blonde-haired white woman. What other information were we given that would suggest that race was even something to consider as a factor of the case?
No matter what your particular worldview may be, you need to recognize that it is a fact that The Central Park 5 did have parents present during their interrogation. They did have food while they waited. The police read the CP5 their Miranda rights or provided them a Miranda right card.
We can easily prove that these things happened via video, their parents’ sworn testimony in court, or by simply taking the word of the police. A refusal to accept the evidence shows that people are often seeking out a particular narrative that paints the justice system as an unfair place for black and brown men.