A Brief Dissection of ‘When They See Us’
The story of the Central Park Five is one that shook the nation and continues to haunt the American judicial system to this day. It can easily be considered one of the most heartbreaking and unjust court cases in America’s history.
Five young African-American and Hispanic boys growing up in 1989 Harlem, New York were arrested for the brutal rape and assault of a 28-year-old white woman named Trisha Meili.
Recently, Netflix released a four-episode mini-series about the wrongfully convicted victims and the events that occurred before and during the trial. Filmmaker Ava DuVernay (Selma, A Wrinkle in Time), directed and co-wrote the series.
Seven minutes into the very first episode, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusuf Salaam, Korey Wise, and Raymond Santana are arrested. Richardson was tackled to the ground and knocked out cold with a police helmet by a white police officer. In another scene, his eye is shown to be puffy and swollen with a dark bloody ring around it.
During the interrogation, a detective refers to the injury as a result of the assault. This scene lays the groundwork for the manipulation tactics used by the detectives to coerce the teenagers into twisting their own alibis and making false statements about the incident that occurred on April 19, 1989. Friends turn on friends. Innocent children tell lies in hopes of being free. If only they knew it kept them further away from the freedom they sought.
“They will lie on us. They will lock us up. They will kill us.” — Father of Antron McCray
After the boys are taken into custody, Linda Fairstein (played by Felicity Huffman), a New York prosecutor handling the case, makes it her mission to prosecute the young men without having sufficient evidence to back up her claims. When she’s first introduced in the story, she speaks to a cop, saying “Did you pick up any gays or homeless? You know, maybe somebody saw something.” This line sets the tone for profiling, maybe not racial profiling but profiling nonetheless which still gives the audience a small insight into her biased undertones and how she approaches her cases.
In another scene, Fairstein mocks an unknown suspect by using the slang word “wildin’”. Some of the other young boys arrested, stated that they were just “wildin’” in the park when questioned what they were doing there. Feinstein uses the word as a way to “appeal” or “relate” to the suspect but in reality, her character comes off as condescending and rude.
The word is used again during a scene where an older black man is listening to a radio he’s carrying as he walks down the street at night. The person speaking on the radio says “New York City police say that’s new teenage slang for rampaging in wolf packs, attacking people just for the fun of it.”
The words “wolf” and “wolf packs” are repeated throughout the series as a way to portray the five teenagers as hungry predators who raped and assaulted Meili.
The series also conjures up the famous $85,000 ad Donald Trump once placed in the New York newspapers (before he became President) stating “BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY. BRING BACK OUR POLICE!”
The police officers place Antron, Yusuf, Kevin, and Raymond in a holding area together for the first time after the arrest. It’s obvious they don’t know each other from the brief introductions but what’s even more interesting is how quickly they discover that the detectives coerced them into telling lies about each other. This leads them to immediately apologize to one another.
“They made us lie, right?”
In the second episode, we see more of the strategic planning and clashes between the five lawyers as well as the back-and-forth disagreements between Elizabeth Lederer and Linda Feinstein on both sides of the case.
The teens are represented by different lawyers who vary in experience with criminal cases.
Prosecutor Elizabeth Lederer builds her case carefully, using the coerced tapes and evidence given to her. In one scene, it is clear that Lederer doesn’t want to continue with the case as she believes there isn’t a case anymore since there was no direct evidence linking Richardson, McCray, Salaam, Wise, and Santana to the crime.
Feinstein presses her to continue saying that the country is watching her and justice needs to be served for Trisha. The question here seems to be then, does she continue with the case because all of America is watching? or does she throw the case out because she knows there’s nothing more than a group of boys who were taken down to the police station where they were coerced into confessing to a crime they did not commit?
Mickey Joseph, the lawyer representing Antron, makes a strong case for not only him but for all the boys. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to sway the jury to give them their freedom.
The men spent between 6 and 14 years in prison.
In the third and fourth episodes, we see how all of the young men cope with their time in prison and the hardships they face when they’re released.
Wise’s story is different from the rest. Unlike the others, he was placed in an adult prison at the age of 16. He was attacked by various gang members in Rikers prison and faced constant physical abuse by crooked guards who encouraged other inmates to beat him.
Members at Wise’s parole hearing told him that the process of release would only move forward when he confessed to the crimes. Wise refused to do this and stopped going to his parole hearings.
The men try to navigate life outside of a cell and they face many challenges along the way. Finding employment becomes a struggle since they are labeled in the system as convicts and registered sex offenders.
Things that they couldn’t do in their youth, they must learn as adults such as finding the courage to enter the dating scene after being branded as rapists. This has caused hesitancy to seek and give love which we see throughout episode three.
The best part of the entire four episodes is when the men receive the news that they’ve been exonerated and Wise is being released from prison after months (or years) of skipping his parole. There’s so much emotion on their faces and I, too, take part in that feeling of joy and happiness knowing that the crime is no longer attached to their names.
It’s important for every American to see this movie as this case sheds light on what can and what does happen when prosecutors try to build a case off of racial profiling and little evidence. Unfortunately, many cases like these don’t receive an ending similar to the Exonerated 5. Many innocent victims of the justice system face harsh and cruel punishments for crimes they did not commit.
Watching ‘When They See Us’ made me realize how little I actually knew about the American justice system and my own rights.
I was also unaware of the Reid technique and how it’s elicited false confessions from many suspects. This technique is briefly mentioned in the series.
Overall, ‘When They See Us’ creates a healthy conversation about the weaknesses of the American justice system and how race, culture, identity, and class can influence the verdict of court cases.
It is not a series that is easy to watch but should be watched anyway. In order for our country to grow and heal, these conversations need to be had. Only then, we can try to reform the system.
