By: Elena Donatone
As Black Lives Matter protests are taking place all across the U.S., the U.K., European countries and the rest of the world, I took the chance to both educate myself and watch a miniseries that has been on my Netflix list for quite some time. And that is the critically acclaimed and award winning When they see us (2019).
The Netflix miniseries, based on true events which unfolded between 1989 and 2002, focuses on five young black and Hispanic boys from Harlem, New York, who get wrongfully accused and convicted of the rape and attempted murder of Trisha Meili (Alexandra Templer).
The woman, as we see in the first episode, is jogging in Central Park when she gets attacked and sexually assaulted. The five boys were innocently hanging out at the park at that exact moment. But as the police is pressured to close the investigation as quickly as possible, the officers decide to interrogate and to turn the five kids into suspects.
As we can soon observe from the interrogations, it is clear the kids were brought in mainly because they are black and considered as “little thugs".
It is painful to watch the police harassing the kids by yelling at them and not giving them anything to eat for hours. It is also hard to observe how scared the boys are because they know they are innocent, but they have no way of proving it. With mind-games and violence, the various police officers force them to admit to a crime they didn’t commit, promising them they could go home if they did.
“You left a child unaccompanied by a guardian or a lawyer with these men in this room, for hours! Shame on you.”
The interrogations are inhumane and badly conducted, as the young boys are at times interrogated without their parents in the room. Since the kids are between 14 and 16 years old, that is illegal.
It is stressful to watch the kids being interrogated and to see the confused looks on their innocent faces. And the fact that they are being accused of raping a woman, when most of them do not even know how a sexual intercourse works yet.
The actors playing the young boys deliver a great performance, helping the viewers understand how impossible it is for them to find a way out of the investigation. To the police, they are already guilty.
The trial is quite disturbing to watch as well, as the boys have to be in a court room, waiting for the jury to decide whether they will be sent to jail or not.
The trial, as the investigation, helps the viewer understand the underlying theme of the series. The kids were brought in, questioned and subsequently accused because of the colour of their skin. With no D.N.A. evidence on the victim, there is no proof they are guilty.
But both the police officers and the city of New York, including former hotel owner — current president, Donald Trump, made up their mind that they are guilty. And they are guilty simply because they are a group of young black and Hispanic boys, who found themselves in the wrong place, at the wrong time. But in the eyes of many, that is enough reason for them to be charged of rape and attempted murder.
“They said if I was there and if I went along with it, that I could go home. And that’s all I wanted. That’s all I wanted, was to go home. That’s all I still want”
In fact, four of the five kids are found guilty by the jury and they have to serve between 6 and 13 years in juvie.
The fifth boy, Korey Wise, played by the talented Jharrel Jerome, is 16 at the time of the trail so he is tried as an adult. Korey has to serve 13 years in jail and his life in prison is very different from his friends’.
While the others have a tough time, they try to cope and they manage to get out way sooner than Korey.
On the other hand Korey, who is sent to maximum security prison straight away instead of juvie, spends 13 years of his life being transferred from one penitentiary to the next. That is very hard on him as he gets further and further away from New York and that makes it challenging for his mother to come and visit him.
“When they say “boys” they not talking about us. They talking about other boys from other places. When did we ever get to be boys?”
In the last episode of the miniseries, that focuses on the years Korey serves, it is impossible not to get emotional and feel completely destroyed by what this innocent kid has to go through, surrounded by older and dangerous inmates.
I found it heart-breaking to watch the years he spends in solitary confinement, with nobody to talk to. Korey, while by himself, often plays back the night where his nightmare began, imagining a different scenario, where he doesn’t agree to go to Central Park with his friend and therefore doesn’t get interrogated and charged with rape.
The actor Jharrel Jerome delivers an amazing performance in this episode, helping the viewer understand how painful those years were for Korey and how unjust the system was to him and the other kids.
“If they don’t wanna hear my truth, I don’t wanna waste my energy.”
Thankfully, the person who committed the rape confesses at last and that is when D.N.A. evidence is found, and Korey and the others are finally proven innocent and set free.
When the boys sue the city of New York City, because of the hardship and pain endured as innocent people, they receive a settlement of $41 millions.
While the money surely helps them get back on their feet and live a secure life financially, so much was taken from them, that no sum of money could ever give back.
“Happiness is something to look forward to.”
The miniseries is so brutally honest and purposely uncomfortable to watch. It made me reflect on how racial injustice is an issue that is present nowadays just as much as 30 years ago, when these events occurred. Both the police and the juridical system treated the boys with no respect and humanity.
It is shocking to observe how the police turned them into suspects, with no evidence, only because they were around the area where the crime was committed. And the fact that the series is based on true events makes it even harder to watch.
The police and the justice system failed them, just as much as they fail many black individuals and other minorities to this day.
The miniseries is a necessary watch for whoever wants to educate themselves on the horrors many people have to endure, as part of a minority group. Horrors committed by a system that is supposed to protect and defend the innocents. A system that instead, more often than not, will judge you and find you guilty just because of the colour of your skin.
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