How Ava DuVernay Made Sure the Central Park Five Were Finally ?Seen?

The Netflix miniseries When They See Us from Ava DuVernay is excruciating to watch—an unflinching look at the human wreckage left behind after New York City’s police, prosecutors, courts, and news media insisted that five young Harlem residents pay the price for a crime they didn’t commit: the rape and near-murder of a jogger in Central Park in the spring of 1989.I was tempted to turn off the TV about 15 minutes in—and might have if my wife, an immigrant committed to under­standing our country for what it is, hadn't insisted on continuing. He lives with his family in Brooklyn.That title, When They See Us, was a conscious decision by DuVernay not to use the familiar shorthand for the case, “the Central Park Five.” That was the name of a 2012 documentary that described the mania to convict these five—Yusef Salaam, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise—who spent six to 13 years in prison before Matias Reyes, a murderer and serial rapist serving 33 years to life for other crimes, came forward to confess. “And I personally underestimated the looming problem during my brief tenure as CEO.” He then explained, “Had I been more aware of how people not like me were being treated and/or had I had a more diverse leadership team or board, we may have made it a priority sooner.”Watching When They See Us made me think what diverse leadership could mean for Hollywood and Silicon Valley too. We’ll get back to you on that one.What we do know, broadly speaking, is that monolithic Silicon Valley leadership teams fail in seeing the humanity of the people who use these platforms and the unpredictability of how these platforms shape society.