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Nearly two weeks have passed since Ava DuVernay’s Netflix miniseries When They See Us premiered, and now the streaming service is preparing to share Oprah Winfrey’s interview with the men dubbed the Central Park 5.
“What do you want to say about this cycle – that you now have been a huge part of – of injustice and racism?” asks Oprah.
Kevin Richardson, who spent five-and-a-half years behind bars, shared his insight, saying, “Here we are 30 years later, and not too many things have changed. Like you said, we’re all connected. We’re just a modern day Scottsboro Boys.”
He continued, “I’m so happy and ecstatic that we can start the conversation now so that there will never be another Central Park 5, and make sure we have the platform to make sure of that…Watching this is painful, but it’s necessary…We need to make sure things change now.”
In a longer preview of the emotional sit down, Antron McCray says, “It brought back a lot of pain. I thought I was over it. Even to this day, I’m damaged. I need help. I know it,” said McCray, who added that he ignored his wife’s request to go to therapy. “The system broke a lot of things that can’t be fixed.”
When McCray was asked about his relationship with his father (who urged him to tell the police what they wanted to hear so he could go home), he wasn’t shy about sharing his hatred for the man he says “ruined” his life.
During the interview, Oprah notes that society has known the men as “a derogatory headline for decades,” but hopes Ava’s series will push them to now be known as the “the exonerated five.”
Catch the full interview on Netflix and OWN tomorrow (June 12).