What goes around, comes around.
Yusef Salaam, a member of the exonerated Central Park Five, had one thing to say in response to former President Donald Trump being indicted: “Karma.”
In a simple tweet, Salaam, a candidate for New York City Council, expressed his feelings after hearing the news. “For those asking about my statement on the indictment of Donald Trump – who never said sorry for calling for my execution – here it is: Karma.”
Salaam, along with four other Black teenage boys, made national
headlines in 1989 after being accused and charged with the attack of a white woman jogging in Central Park in New York City. Trump, a prominent business icon, purchased newspaper advertisements calling for the state to present the death penalty to the teenagers. The boys spent years in jail for a crime they did not commit, claiming they were coerced into confessions.As president, Trump was asked to apologize for his antics but refused. “You have people on both sides of that. They admitted their guilt,” Trump said, as reported by The Daily Beast. Similar remarks were made regarding the deadly Charlottesville, Virginia, attack in 2017 at a white nationalist rally. After a women was killed, Trump’s response was “there was blame on both sides.”
Yesterday, the 45th president was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury in connection to hush-money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, making him the first former president ever to be criminally charged.
Central Park Five supporters, like Rev. Al Sharpton, shared similar sentiments after learning of the indictment.
“All I can say is, what goes around comes around,” Sharpton told Business Insider. “This is the same man who’s now calling for violence when he has to go through the same system. The same man will have to stand up in a courtroom and see firsthand what the criminal justice system is like.”