At a small patch of Central Park flanking New York’s Harlem neighborhood, scores came Monday to remember the injustice that put five Black and Latino teenagers in prison after they were wrongly accused and convicted of the 1989 rape of a white jogger.

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The entryway, located on the northern perimeter of the park between Fifth Avenue and Malcolm X Boulevard, will be known as the “Gate of the Exonerated.” {snip}

“This is a moment. This is legacy time,” said one of the men, Yusef Salaam.

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Monday was the first time Raymond Santana, another of the men, now in his 40s, has returned to Central Park since that fateful day 33 years ago.

Santana was 14 and Salaam was 16 when they and three others — Kevin Richardson, then 14; Korey Wise, 16; and Antron McCray, 15 — were wrongly tried for the rape of a 28-year-old woman whose brutal attack left her with permanent injuries and no memory of the assault. {snip}

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Matias Reyes, a convicted murderer and serial rapist, later confessed to the crime.

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Santana, Salaam and Richardson — Wise and McCray could not attend Monday’s ceremony — spoke about how the criminal justice system is stacked against people of color.

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“This is an important time right here. The Gate of the Exonerated, this is for everybody,” Richardson said. “Everybody that’s been wronged by cops.”

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Mayor Eric Adams, who was just starting his career as a New York City police officer during the 1989 episode, came to the ceremony to pay tribute to the men.

“To these soldiers here, you personify the Black male experience,” the mayor, who is also Black, said.

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