“Not thugs. Not wilding. Not criminals. Not even the Central Park Five. They are Korey, Antron, Raymond, Yusef, Kevin. They are millions of young people of color who are blamed, judged and accused on sight.”
That’s how Ava Duvernay introduced the teaser for When They See Us, her upcoming Netflix series about the lives of the five young men who were cast into the national spotlight following the assault of a woman in Central Park. The boys were condemned in the media. The current President of the United States called for their deaths in the pages of all four of New York City’s major newspapers (President Donald Trump stated that he stood by his remarks in 2016.)
Not thugs. Not wilding. Not criminals. Not even the Central Park Five. They are Korey, Antron, Raymond, Yusef, Kevin. They are millions of young people of color who are blamed, judged and accused on sight. May 31. A film in four parts about who they really are. WHEN THEY SEE US. pic.twitter.com/QQBVqo4TYM
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) March 1, 2019
But the boys were innocent, their confessions were coerced, their charges were removed in 2014 and their case remains one of the most infamous miscarriages of justice in America’s history. Now their story is being told via an impressive ensemble cast and one of the most exciting directors working in Hollywood today. The series will premiere on Netflix at the end of May.
