UPDATE:
One of the exonerated Central Park Five members mentioned in the piece below, Yosuf Salaam, has placed a full-page ad in a New York newspaper reminding the public of the injustice perpetrated on him and the other four Central Park Five members 34 years ago and of how Trump called “for [his] execution” even before they were (wrongfully) convicted.
Leading with the bold headline, “BRING BACK JUSTICE & FAIRNESS. BUILD A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR HARLEM!” Salaam’s ad describes how the ordeal and injustices along with Trump’s actions impacted not only his life, but also his community’s, conditions that only “became worse during Trump’s time in office.”
“Now, after several decades and an unfortunate and disastrous presidency, we all know exactly who Donald J. Trump is — a man who seeks to deny justice and fairness for others, while claiming only innocence for himself,” he writes.
Commenting on Trump’s inciteful comments in response to the multiple, recent state and federal investigations, Salaam chastises Trump:
These actions, just like your actions leading up to the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol, are an attack on our safety. Thirty-four years ago, your full-page ad stated, in all caps: CIVIL LIBERTIES END WHEN AN ATTACK ON OUR SAFETY BEGINS. You were wrong then and you are wrong now.
But Salaam concludes by extending to Trump the courtesy and grace Trump never showed him: “Now that you have been indicted and are facing criminal charges, I do not resort to hatred, bias or racism — as you once did. Even though thirty-four years ago you effectively called for my death and the death of four other innocent children, I wish you no harm,” he writes.
Read more HERE
Original Post:
It would not be an overstatement to say that ten, fifty, perhaps one hundred years from today, stories will still be written on what happened “Today in History,” April 4, 2023.
For, on this day, Donald J. Trump became the first former U.S. president to be indicted and subsequently arrested and arraigned.
We, the world, saw a sullen Trump wearing his signature dark-blue suit and oversized red tie walk into the Lower Manhattan Criminal Courts building to be fingerprinted, processed and charged with 34 felony counts.
Looking back at events “on this day in history,” there are at least two events that ironically – perhaps sardonically – grab one’s attention.
The first one is the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on April 4, 1949. It is a well-known fact that Trump was not a fan of this vital organization.
In May 2017, referring to Trump. the Atlantic Council wrote, “Never has a leading US political figure gone so far as to call into question US treaty obligations to its European allies, and to question the value of NATO itself.”
Not to put a too fine point on it, but on the same day that Trump was arrested, NATO was further strengthened by the formal admission of Finland to NATO.
Already in 1973, in a housing bias case, Trump and his father were named as defendants in a suit against Trump Management for discrimination against blacks.
In the years since, including during his administration, Trump has established a dubious record – to say the least — on issues involving African Americans, as well as other minorities.
That is why the second significant historic event comes to mind: The April 4, 1968 assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis Tennessee. It is sad that today’s commemorations of the life and death of this icon have been overshadowed by events in New York.
It did not occur exactly “on this day,” but certainly “in this place.” Thirty-four years ago, five young men, – four African American and one Hispanic — were arrested and arraigned at the Manhattan Criminal Court accused of raping a 28-year old woman jogging in New York’s Central Park. The five teenagers, referred to as the “Central Park Five,” were wrongly convicted after being coerced into making false statements. They were exonerated years later.
The man who was arraigned today in Manhattan Criminal Court, took out full page ads in four major New York newspapers just two weeks after the Central Park attack and before any of the teenagers had faced trial.
Under the headline “Bring Back The Death Penalty. Bring Back Our Police!” and above his signature, Trump wrote: “I want to hate these muggers and murderers. They should be forced to suffer and, when they kill, they should be executed for their crimes. They must serve as examples so that others will think long and hard before committing a crime or an act of violence.”
TIME writes, “Both [Alvin Bragg’s and Donald Trump’s] trajectories, in fact, were shaped in part by the same event more than 30 years ago: the Central Park Jogger Case.”
Upon hearing of Trump’s indictment, one of the accused Central Park Five, Dr. Yusef Salaam, who was 15 years old when Donald Trump publicly demanded his execution for a crime he did not commit, tweeted “For those asking about my statement on the indictment of Donald Trump — who never said sorry for calling for my execution — here it is: Karma.”
Dr. Salaam is now a candidate for New York City Council.
Finally, and call it coincidence or karma, the man who wanted the last two Democratic presidents and last four Democratic nominees indicted — among them Hillary Clinton — returned that evening to his Mar-a-Lago “arraignment party,” to publicly wallow in self-pity. Around the same time, Clinton, about whom his crowds frequently chanted “lock her up” to Trump’s delight, was to be honored at a black-tie dinner – “a tradition dating to the 1870s” — at a prestigious private club within walking distance from Trump Tower.
More karma?
There will be several additional opportunities for the former president to become the central subject of “Today in history.”
