When They See Us
‘When They See Us’ takes a historical leap into the Central Park jogger case and Trump’s infamous death penalty
The Central Park Five case revisits one of the darkest episodes in US history when innocents were blamed by the law, without evidence.
At its core, the very significant question asked by the Netflix mini-series is what does a criminal really look like? A black man heavily built with gold chains around his neck, a white man tall and lean with several scars contouring all over his face, or a quiet sturdy man who does not plea for his guilt for nearly a decade. None of the above mentioned features ascribe to the five boys who were detained by police on May 1989, almost a month after the heinous Central Park jogger case where the 28-year-old, Trisha Meili, was brutally raped when she went jogging at Central Park.
‘When They See Us’ does not delay in delivering the incident and the immediate outcome which is till today considered one of the darkest periods in the history of a nation that claims to be inclusive in nature. The four episodes long mini-series, coming from Oscar nominee and Emmy winning director Ava DuVernay plunges into the fateful night when five teenagers had visited Central Park for a casual nightly stroll with a group of more than 30 teenagers. Kevin Richardson (Asante Blackk), Antron McCray (Caleel Harris), Yusef Salaam (Ethan Herisse), Korey Wise (Jharrel Jerome), and Raymond Santana (Marquis Rodriguez) were regular teenagers who watched the big boys around them creating a little chaos at the park, something which will inevitably turn against them later on in the series. However, when police comes to investigate about the jogger case, the four of them are immediately detained and taken in for questioning. Only Korey Wise stood aside but nevertheless chose to accompany his friend, Yusef Salaam, to the prison.
Korey Wise was the only adult convicted at the time. (IMDb)
What follows next is hours of torture by the police who are more than sure about their assumption that the five boys were responsible for the rape. Since the very first episode we see the police’s blind theory that black boys, who do not get the privilege of white boys, are criminals and as the investigation which is nothing less than prejudice cooped up in uniforms approaches threatening the boys to admit to crimes they did not commit. The brilliance of the first two episodes lies in them being contained within a single setting of a courtroom. The boys, whose age does not exceed 16-years, are kept questioned and in a way compelled to say things alluring them with the idea of letting them go. All five leads excel in their expression of fear, shame, and confusion, as each of their characters admit to things they haven’t done out of sheer blackmail. Soon the boys are divided into groups of two just so their stories match with each other and it is easier for the police and the lawyers to convince the court of their crime.
The boys were compelled to admit things they did not commit. (IMDb)
DuVernay’s portrayal of the conspiracy that went on behind the curtain is at once alarming. Linda Fairstein (Felicity Huffman) and Elizabeth Lederer (Vera Farmiga), the leading minds behind creating the perfect travesty to prove whom they presumed as the accused do not take the role of a villain but of the antagonist who in their own minds are fighting a war for women’s safety. However, their fight certainly takes a wrong because throughout the investigation they strive to make the uncertain certain, and uncertainty itself is a major flaw in any kind of situation. It was their uncertainty that drove them to claim things in order to cover up on their own missing link which will not be discovered until 2002, when Matias Reyes the real accused comes forward to state his own truth.
This harrowing tale of the truth and the false, and the subtle reality that lies in between forms the ground for ‘When They See Us’. When truth is not found, the false is bent twisted and often decorated to make it comes somewhat closer to the little learned truth. When the false is thus decorated, its appealing nature often attracts those who are ready to make amends with whatever is served on plate without any attempt to verify what lies beneath. Such was the case of Donald Trump’s death penalty where he had apparently spent 85,000 dollars to bring it back as a punishment for the Central Park Five. This subtly pointed at Trump’s underlying policy to divide and rule a country that was built on the shoulders of all those who came from beyond the sea and pushed back the natives.
‘When They See Us’ is a series which brings an important story to a new generation that is fighting the war for equality, and it also acts as a warning as to what might happen if things are left to the orange-headed ones.
