Yusef Salaam, one of the Central Park 5 exonerated in the headline-grabbing, racially-polarizing rape of a white Manhattan jogger, is running for public office, sources close to his campaign said Friday.
Nearly 20 years after a judge vacated convictions against him and four of his buddies in one of the most sensational criminal justice cases in city history, Salaam has told associates that he is running to fill the seat being vacated by Harlem state Sen. Brian Benjamin (D), who was nominated last week to be New York’s next lieutenant governor.
Associates said Salaam, 47, plans to focus, in part, on issues that made his name synonymous with wrongful conviction: criminal justice and prison reform, police brutality and the abolition of juvenile solitary confinement.
He has worked as an activist, author and motivational speaker.
Central Park 5 member, Yusef Salaam, to run for Harlem state senate seat - New York Daily News (nydailynews.com)
