Activists Ask DA to Reopen Linda Fairstein’s Cases

By N. Jamiyla Chisholm Jun 05, 2019

Today (June 5) in New York City, at 2 p.m., public advocate Jumaane Williams and Women’s March leaders Tamika D. Mallory and Linda Sarsour will go to the David N. Dinkins Municipal Building to call on Manhattan district attorney Cy Vance to reopen all of former prosecutor Linda Fairstein’s cases, Justice League NYC announced via Twitter yesterday (June 4).

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Since Netflix’s debut of Academy Award-winner Ava DuVernay’s four-part series “When They See Us” on Friday (May 31), Fairstein (played by Felicity Huffman) has been under intense scrutiny for her handling of the Central Park Five case.

Thirty years after she prosecuted five innocent Black and Latinx kids, Fairstein is getting her time in the court of public opinion. Yesterday, TMZ reported that, “after careful consideration,” she resigned from her board of directors post at the nonprofit Safe Horizon. The resignation came a day after Twitter created #CancelLindaFairstein and several petitions, including one via Change.org “to ask all retailers and book publishers to stop selling Linda Fairstein books or any product that has ties to her.” At press time, more than 83,000 supporters had signed the petition.

“Even if it's 30 years later, she has to pay for her crime,” Raymond Santana, one of the then-boys who was falsely accused of sexual assault, told TMZ at the start of the boycotts.

Many used Twitter to call for justice for Fairstein:

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