At the age of 14, Kevin Richardson had his dream to play trumpet in the Syracuse University marching band taken from him. A member of what has become known as the Central Park Five, Richardson was convicted of attempted murder, rape, sodomy, assault and robbery of a white woman even though no substantive physical evidence linked him to the crime.

Richardson’s dreams are part of a litany of others from black Americans which all have been crushed by miscarriages of justice. Syracuse University students are taking initiative to make Richardson’s dream a reality. Students are calling for the SU community to reach for one of its highest ideals — inclusion. We are asking SU to award Richardson an honorary degree.

Jalen Nash, a senior political science major created a petition to award Kevin Richardson an honorary degree which now has more than 6,000 signatures.

The story of the Central Park Five, Nash said, “represents not only the injustices they faced then, but the injustices many face to this day.”

On Sept. 9, Richardson was a speaker at a forum here at SU. Richardson entered Goldstein Auditorium to a standing ovation. At the forum, Mr. Richardson answered a student’s question, saying that his “voice was like a whisper” at the time of his arrest.

“We would scream, but no one would listen,” Richardson said at the forum.

Richardson is not asking for a degree, but we as Syracuse students have been listening and watching. SU recently recognized Richardson with a scholarship in his name, but the recognition did not go far enough.

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Richardson has earned an honorary degree. He is a proven role model, especially for students of color, and his advocacy with groups like the Innocence Project, a nonprofit committed to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing, are a testament to his commitment to reform.

Gretchen Purser, an associate sociology professor at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, said she is impressed by this mobilization of students.

“I think it’s one of the best moves I have seen come from the student body,” she said.

Awarding Richardson an honorary degree recognizes injustices as pervasive and long-lasting.

The Central Park Five’s faulty ‘confessions’ and wrongful conviction were the products of a so-called war on crime that still exists in the criminal justice system today. Black males continue to be disproportionately represented in the prison population.

“Tremendous injustice shows where we were as a country when it happened and where we are now,” said Nash.

Every member of the Central Park Five pleaded not guilty, withdrew their confessions and rejected plea bargains on their assault and rape charges. They were all convicted and received sentences from five to fifteen years for a crime they did not commit. At every step of their story, there was a failure of justice.

The criminal justice system believes it can kill the dreams of people like Richardson. Presenting Richardson with an honorary degree can show that a conviction is not the definitive end to a story.

David Bruen is a freshman Political Science and Policy Studies major. His column appears bi-weekly. He can be reached at drbruen@syr.edu. He can be followed on Twitter @David__Bruen.

Published on September 23, 2019 at 12:07 am