Tens of thousands of people have signed a petition calling for a boycottΒ of former New York City prosecutor Linda Fairstein for her involvement with the prosecution of five black and Latino teenagers known as the Central Park Five.Β Β The petition, which had over 50,000 signatures by Tuesday, urges retailers and book publishers to sever ties with Fairstein, who has written more than 20 mystery novels. It was created after the May 31 release ofΒ βWhen They See Us,βΒ Ava DuVernayβs limited Netflix series about the Central Park jogger case. Β The stunning four-part series reignited widespread conversation in the media about the consequences of systemic racism in Americaβs criminal justice system, the fate of the Central Park Five, and Fairsteinβs role in the case. Β βWhen They See Usβ puts the spotlight on the stories of Antron McCray, Korey Wise, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana and Yusef Salaam, who were all wrongly convicted of brutally raping a white 28-year-old female jogger in New York Cityβs Central Park in 1989.Β Β A statement in a Change.org petitionΒ accuses Fairstein of leading βa witch hunt against five teenage boysβ that βfundamentally changed these menβs lives forever.β Β Fairstein, portrayed by Felicity Huffman in the series, was the chief Manhattan sex crimes prosecutor at the time the teens, aged 14 to 16, were interrogated in 1989. The five of them later maintained they were coerced into giving false confessions through policeΒ scare tactics and manipulationΒ β which is portrayed in βWhen They See Us.β Β The five were convicted of numerous crimes related to
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