To the editor:

As we wind our way through Black History Month, this just might be the time to reflect on the role Donald Trump played with the Central Park Five; a case in April 1989 in which five Black and Latino teenage boys were accused of the horrific assault and rape of Trisha Meili — a crime they did not commit.

Donald Trump paid $85,000 out of his own pocket publishing full-page ads in New York City newspapers asking for the conviction and execution of these children before a trial even took place, bypassing our sacred principle of presumption of innocence. Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise spent up to 13 years in jail simply because they were an easy target; likely based upon their race and the color of their skin. All five were eventually exonerated due to DNA evidence.

As Trump boisterously renounces our “sham” judicial system and is screaming how our system is “unfair” and “rigged” against him, he need look no further than to reflect upon his own role in such a case in which he inflicted public guilt upon innocent children, simply because of who they were.

Jack Herlihy

Lynn