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Better, not bitter : living on purpose in the pursuit of racial justice / by Salaam, Yusef,1974-author.;
"They didn't know who they had. So begins Yusef Salaam telling his story. No one's life is the sum of the worst things that happened to them, and during Yusef Salaam's seven years of wrongful incarceration as one of the Central Park Five, he grew from child to man, and gained a spiritual perspective on life. Yusef learned that we're all "born on purpose, with a purpose." Despite having confronted the racist heart of America while being "run over by the spiked wheels of injustice," Yusef channeled his energy and pain into something positive, not just for himself but for other marginalized people and communities. Better Not Bitter is the first time that one of the now Exonerated Five is telling his individual story, in his own words. Yusef writes his narrative: growing up Black in central Harlem in the '80s, being raised by a strong, fierce mother and grandmother, his years of incarceration, his reentry, and exoneration. Yusef connects these stories to lessons and principles he learned that gave him the power to survive through the worst of life's experiences. He inspires readers to accept their own path, to understand their own sense of purpose. With his intimate personal insights, Yusef unpacks the systems built and designed for profit and the oppression of Black and Brown people. He inspires readers to channel their fury into action, and through the spiritual, to turn that anger and trauma into a constructive force that lives alongside accountability and mobilizes change. This memoir is an inspiring story that grew out of one of the gravest miscarriages of justice, one that not only speaks to a moment in time or the rage-filled present, but reflects a 400-year history of a nation's inability to be held accountable for its sins. Yusef Salaam's message is vital for our times, a motivating resource for enacting change. Better, Not Bitter has the power to soothe, inspire and transform. It is a galvanizing call to action"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Salaam, Yusef, 1974-; Discrimination in criminal justice administration; False imprisonment; Judicial error; Prisoners;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Punching the air / by Zoboi, Ibi Aanu.; Salaam, Yusef; Pasha, Omar T.;
From award-winning, bestselling author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five comes a powerful YA novel in verse about a boy who is wrongfully incarcerated. The story that I thought was my life didn't start on the day I was born. Amal Shahid has always been an artist and a poet. But even in a diverse art school, he's seen as disruptive and unmotivated by a biased system. Then one fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighborhood escalates into tragedy. "Boys just being boys" turns out to be true only when those boys are white. The story that I think will be my life starts today. Suddenly, at just sixteen years old, Amal's bright future is upended: he is convicted of a crime he didn't commit and sent to prison. Despair and rage almost sink him until he turns to the refuge of his words, his art. This never should have been his story. But can he change it' With spellbinding lyricism, award-winning author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam tell a moving and deeply profound story about how one boy is able to maintain his humanity and fight for the truth, in a system designed to strip him of both.LSC
Subjects: Novels in verse.; False imprisonment; African American teenage boys; Teenage artists; Judicial error; Prisoners; Discrimination in criminal justice administration; Criminal justice, Administration of; Justice;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The Central Park five [videorecording] / by Black, Angela.; Burns, Ken,1953-; Burns, Sarah,1982-; Butts, Calvin O.; McCray, Antron.; McMahon, David.; Richardson, Kevin.; Savini, Anthony.; Squires, Buddy.; Wamble, Doug.; Wise, Kharey.; Florentine Films.; PBS Distribution (Firm); WETA-TV (Television station : Washington, D.C.);
Cinematography by Buddy Squires with Anthony Savini ; edited by Michael Levine ; original music by Doug Wamble.With Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Kharey Wise, Angela Black, Calvin O. Butts III.In April 1989, Trisha Meili, a 28-year-old investment banker, was raped and savagely beaten while jogging in the park. The shocking crime came in a city already known, as one interviewee describes it, as "the capital of racial violence," and media, politicians, cops, ordinary citizens, and everyone else demanded that whoever was responsible be brought to justice immediately, if not sooner. And although there were dozens of other black and Latino youths "wilding" (i.e., threatening and/or attacking others) in the park that night, only teenagers Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise, all of whom were interviewed for this film, were ultimately arrested and convicted, based on confessions to the police who interrogated them. All five went to jail, serving between 6 and 13 years while the district attorney's office congratulated itself on a job well done. But the confessions, portions of which we see in file footage, were bogus. If not actually coerced, they were certainly the products of five scared, confused, suggestible youths willing to say almost anything simply so they could go home.E.DVD ; English 5.1 surround ; 2.0 stereo ; widescreen presentation.
Subjects: Criminal justice, Administration of; Documentary television programs.; False imprisonment; Judicial error; Rape victims; Violent crimes;
© c2013., PBS Distribution,
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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