After the Central Park Five

(slow guitar music) - Kevin is saying this happened, Antrone is saying this happened.

They were stopping me during my retelling of the events and saying, is this where you got the woman?

Is that where?

The tone was very, very scary.

I felt like these guys are really angry and you know what, they might take us to the back of the precinct and kill us.

My first meeting with Sarah Burns was through Raymond Santana and Kevin Richardson.

They had both met her personally before and they said she's a cool person.

Go ahead and speak to her.

- When I first met Sarah, we sat there and I looked at her.

I thought well she looks rather young, looks younger than me.

Come to find out she was.

But we sat there and started to talk maybe for about two hours.

- She just was fascinated with the case.

Through her research and her finding the facts she became very outraged.

Then years later she approached us about writing a book.

At that point I felt like nobody else had approached us to write a book so, hey why not take a chance?

That led to the film.

- [Woman] I'm gonna ask you a few questions about- - Here I am doing video tape and I'm already deep in this.

I'm thinking now I gotta sell it.

Make sure that people know that I wasn't involved.

- [Woman] Were you trying to touch her?

- Not really.

- [Woman] Didn't you tell the police earlier today that you had tried to grab her and that's when you got scratched.

- The interviews, it was a little difficult but at the same time it was a breath of fresh air.

We had never talked about this before.

- Just to relive that whole scene, the whole, it brings you back.

You feel like you're 14 again.

- You have to relive those moments once again and it opens up old wounds.

And you have to go through those feelings and relive it.

But it was necessary, that was part of the healing process.

That was telling that on camera and letting the whole world know what happened to you.

- It was like a relief.

Almost like getting, we felt like we were able to get this out, get something out that had been wound up and balled up inside of us for so long.

- This is a process that you have to go through.

If it means me telling a story and me opening up old wounds could save somebody's life, then it's worth it.

That's I always looked at it.

That's why I don't have a problem telling the story anymore.

- We first seen the private screening, all the guys, it was quiet.

You could hear a pin drop.

When it was over, we all stood up, just clapping.

Standing ovation 'cause they really told our story.

- Right away we was like, can we put it out right now?

It was like no, not yet.

It's complete but we've got to put some finishing touches.

We were just ecstatic about the film 'cause it spoke for us.

And it got a chance for our voices to be heard finally.

Over 20 years and it just felt like that rock that was always on our shoulders was finally gonna be taken off.

- When we seen it, it was like this is powerful.

We couldn't wait for people to see this film.

- I went back and I told my family about it.

I was like look you guys gotta see it.

They're gonna have a screening for you guys, for the family to see it.

It was awesome.

They was always -_ then too because of how the media did them in.

I think for them watching the film relieves a lot of pressure also.

- Somebody told me to freeze or I will shoot.

My fear even went on more so I just kept running.

One of the cops, he tackled me.

All my clothes was just all dirty and muddy.

He had a helmet and he swung it across my face.

And he handcuffed me and I said, - It's a painful film to watch, but it's a necessary film to watch.

For me, it brings me back to 1989 of course.

It brings me back to everything that happened and everything that had gone on since then.

The whole prison time, being released, dealing with parole, dealing with the Magnus Law.

Then being exonerated and then being let down by the system because the system didn't, just as they had a speedy method to put us into prison, there was no speedy method to compensate and right the wrong.

So here we are 10 years later still fighting the system.

- The first film I attended was the Toronto Film Festival.

That was the first time that I sat with an audience and it was maybe four or 500 people.

You can feel like the tension in the air, you can hear the emotion.

You can feel the emotion.

People were in there crying and people were upset.

When I walked on stage I got a standing ovation which was like wow.

- To receive the applause is a warm welcome.

It was a beautiful welcome.

So whenever I found myself coming into and hearing their applause and coming to their auditorium.

I calls it the house of justice.

- It's overwhelming to be honest and still overwhelming now.

The reception was powerful especially when we see kids and they're there watching and asking us questions afterwards.

That's one of the biggest thrills of it.

- I was choked up, I couldn't even, the first question came to me and I couldn't even answer.

I had to say look, come back.

Give me a couple of minutes 'cause I gotta take this all in.

- Everyone in the audience stands and gives us standing ovations.

We see people crying, people wanna hug us.

That's therapy.

That right there is like welcome home.

We need you back into society.

It's been tremendous.

That's been very tremendous.

- One other thing that was very powerful when the five of us was together at the NYC to see Antrone McCray.

He lives far away from New York.

- That night for him, that cry was very powerful.

He was bitter.

I would talk to him on the phone and we always go back and forth about this case and he was very bitter.

That night healed him.

- He was afraid actually to come around to let his face be shown.

Because everything that happened to us hurt everyone as well as our families.

To see him there, and to speak and to fell the energy that we all felt.

- He had lost his faith like me.

That night he told the crowd because of their response and the love that they gave him, it restored it.

- And that was powerful just to see him there standing with his brothers in the struggle and just being there together.

- He embraced me.

He embraced me, told me they the loved me.

Thank you.

I'm good, he said I'm good.

Now it's time to go back home.

- These were five kids who we tormented.

We falsely accused.

We pillared in the press.

We attacked, we invented phrases for the imagined crimes that we were accusing them of.

Then we put them in jail, we falsely convicted them.

When the evidence turned out that they were innocent and they were released, we gave a modest nod to fairness and we walked away from our crime.

- People always ask, is this something that could happen again?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

This case is a interesting case because one of the thing that happens with the Central Park Five, the Central Park jogger case itself is that you immediately realize that these false confessions that came about didn't come out of thin air.

The police officers gave them the information.

Everything that they told them was wrong because when Matias Reyes came forth 13 years later and told them exactly what happened, nothing that had been recorded 13 years before was true.

Nothing could be substantiated.

You realize that how many countless other individuals have gone through this same process either before or after the Central Park jogger case.

- Now we are hoping that could put a stop to this.

We're proud have a platform to do so, to let you know what we've been through.

We really don't wanna see anybody else go through that because we managed to get out the situation.

But who is to say that another five kids may not make it.

- Another step that we should look at is also having social services or juvenile justice have people at these precincts.

Have some part of these agencies.

Have them at the precinct beforehand when the juvenile gets arrested.

- When a young person comes through the door, immediately you have those social services there to ensure that justice happens.

- By the time the kid is picked up in the precinct, there should be a film right there.

- You want the cameras to start rolling when you start interrogating.

- During that time, a lot happens.

I believe being bitter is not the right thing.

I believe that being bitter will only send you to the grave actually faster.

- If you're careful about what's going on, you can channel that anger into something positive.

Here we are, we can say let's talk to young people which is something that we do all the time.

We've been in junior high schools, we've been in high schools, we've been in colleges.

To be able to give back that way is tremendous and it also allows us to heal.

- When I look at little Korey in the documentary, I just find myself just being his attorney.

Make sure his word, his truth is out.

It almost feels like he's dead.

Yeah, it almost feels like he's dead because he endured a whole lot of trials and tribulation that -_.

- [Woman] Did you tell us the truth voluntarily?

- Yes ma'am.

- [Woman] Because you wanted to?

- This documentary that I'm thankful for is a rebirth of him.

But the rebirth of him is me telling his story.

Quite sure he'd be thankful.

- We've never gone through any process where the system has said, you know what, you guys were done wrong.

We're gonna take you through therapy sessions to make sure that you can be reentered into society.

We had to do that stumbling and falling.

We had to do that by the grace of God.

It doesn't do anything to remain bitter.

It doesn't do anything to remain angry.

Like they say don't cry over spilled milk, this happened.

- Before I didn't really know what my direction was.

I felt like I have a calling now to speak to children and teenagers as well as adults.

- I never imagined when I was in prison that things would turn out like this.

It's weird because when you're in prison, sometimes you can't think past the day.

The fact that we survived prison was a miracle.

Then we weren't supposed to be able to survive coming home from prison.

Every single door of success was supposed to be shut in our faces.

The fact that we've been able to make something of ourselves in spite of it all says a lot.

(eerie music)