Kevin Richardson was one of five Black and Latino teenagers wrongfully convicted of sexual assault in the famous “Central Park jogger case” in 1989. At the time, current President Donald J. Trump called for him and his friends to be executed. Known as the “Central Park Five,” the men were exonerated after a serial rapist confessed to the crime and DNA evidence proved their innocence in 2002. Richardson – arrested at 14 years old – spent seven years in prison.
As a kid, Richardson dreamed of going to Syracuse University, he told Oprah Winfrey in an interview, after the release of “When They See Us,” a Netflix series about the Central Park Five.
A middle school trumpet player and a college basketball fan, he wanted to play for the school’s marching band. To him, Syracuse felt like the perfect distance from where he grew up in Harlem, not far from his family but still an escape from New York City.
Two weeks ago, on Oct. 16, Syracuse University awarded Richardson with an honorary bachelor of fine arts at a virtual event called “Coming Back Together,” a reunion of Black and Latinx alumni.
At the ceremony, Richardson “felt like that teenager again,” he said. “It was emotional. Tears began to stream down my face, because wow, this finally happened thirty years later.”
His is the first honorary undergraduate degree the university has ever given, a special request from Richardson. Instead of a customary honorary doctorate, he wanted the degree to reflect the college years he missed.
Richardson came out of prison at age 23 – five years before the group was exonerated – saddled with the stigma of a sex offense he didn’t commit.
