A man wrongfully convicted in connection with a horrific attack on a jogger in New York's Central Park has a new book out. Yusef Salaam discussed the work in an appearance in Winston-Salem Sunday.
The attack and rape made national headlines in 1989. The Black and Latino youths charged in the crime became known as the Central Park Five and were widely vilified in the press.
All were later cleared after another man confessed to the crime.
Salaam was just a teen when arrested and spent more than six years in detention. Still, he describes the case as a love story between God and his people. Salaam says it gave him a chance to grow.
“My grandmother always said to me, she said: ‘Be still and listen,'” he says. “And when you listen long enough, you hear God. And then you realize what you're supposed to do.”
Salaam's memoir “Better, Not Bitter: Living on Purpose in the Pursuit of Racial Justice” was released this year. His appearance closed the 2021 Bookmarks Festival of Books and Authors.