Just in the first 10 minutes of this he puts the video interviews of suspects in the park that night up against footage from the Netflix show. In the show, the kids are playful and laughing. They are a little aggressive with some cyclists, patting them on the back as they bike past. They come upon some older guys robbing someone and stand back, mouths agape, surprised and perhaps even horrified by what they're seeing.
Meanwhile, in the real life interviews they all admit that they entered the park to do violence -- to beat on people and rob them -- and, further, that this was a favorite pastime, something they'd done many times before.
It's shameful.
Meanwhile, in the real life interviews they all admit that they entered the park to do violence -- to beat on people and rob them -- and, further, that this was a favorite pastime, something they'd done many times before.
It's shameful.
In the show, they stumble upon other people doing a robbery and are horrified. In their testimony they admit that they entered the park to rob and beat people.
It's just so completely shameful. How do you make such straightforward propaganda and live with yourself?
It's just so completely shameful. How do you make such straightforward propaganda and live with yourself?
He cuts to an interview with the director who says that she wanted to humanize the boys, to ask the viewer to "interrogate" all that they think they know about supposed criminals like them.
I mean, sure; you can just lie about what happened. It's true that they're more sympathetic characters if you lie about what they did.
I mean, sure; you can just lie about what happened. It's true that they're more sympathetic characters if you lie about what they did.
Now at 24:15 they show the suspects describing the attack on Jogger #3. Antron McCray and Yusef Salaam -- now a New York City Councilman -- are described as hitting the jogger with a pipe. Multiple of the suspects independently corroborate this story.
There is some inconsistency here, it should be mentioned. It's unclear who had the pipe when. One of the boys clarifies that Yusef originally had the pipe, but at some point Antron had it and was seen returning it to Yusef.
That there was a pipe and that the boys were using it to hit a jogger seems pretty clear.
There is some inconsistency here, it should be mentioned. It's unclear who had the pipe when. One of the boys clarifies that Yusef originally had the pipe, but at some point Antron had it and was seen returning it to Yusef.
That there was a pipe and that the boys were using it to hit a jogger seems pretty clear.
We're not even yet to the rape.
Anyway, I'm not going to live tweet the rest of it; it's getting late. You should watch it yourself.
I'll just say this: they incriminate themselves over and over again.
Obviously, I haven't watched all the hours and hours of interview footage. Whatever you see in a documentary is selected to tell a story. But in these clips there is no evidence of coercion. They volunteer themselves and each other at the scene. The stories do have inconsistencies, but it's fairly clear that they're each recreating the story on the fly to make it seem like didn't participate much. (They seem to believe that if they just held the girl down and watched that that's not so serious.)
One of the suspects gets in the police car after he's first picked up and starts crying and saying that he knows who did it. The police have already picked up Jogger #3, so they assume he's talking about him. But he means the woman they raped. Police don't even know about her yet.
Two of the suspects who are put at the scene by multiple of the other suspects keep their mouth shut and avoid the rape charge.
It's really hard to watch all this footage and conclude that they had *nothing* to do with the assault on that woman.
I'll just say this: they incriminate themselves over and over again.
Obviously, I haven't watched all the hours and hours of interview footage. Whatever you see in a documentary is selected to tell a story. But in these clips there is no evidence of coercion. They volunteer themselves and each other at the scene. The stories do have inconsistencies, but it's fairly clear that they're each recreating the story on the fly to make it seem like didn't participate much. (They seem to believe that if they just held the girl down and watched that that's not so serious.)
One of the suspects gets in the police car after he's first picked up and starts crying and saying that he knows who did it. The police have already picked up Jogger #3, so they assume he's talking about him. But he means the woman they raped. Police don't even know about her yet.
Two of the suspects who are put at the scene by multiple of the other suspects keep their mouth shut and avoid the rape charge.
It's really hard to watch all this footage and conclude that they had *nothing* to do with the assault on that woman.
(At least) one more thing: multiple of the suspects have blood and semen on them. DNA/blood tests are inconclusive. As an ordinary thinking person you are allowed to pause here and find it suspicious that they have blood and semen on their clothes.
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