Priscilla Ortiz- Central Park five vs Picking Cotton

Priscilla Ortiz
English 102
March 4th 2016

       This week, I continued to read the book of picking Cotton and along with that we went to watch a documentary called Central park Five that went along with the events experienced and read in picking Cotton.  The documentary spoke about five teenagers who lived in Harlem New York city at the time when New York was full of crime and it was in bad times.  The guys went to central park to hang out and another guy was getting beat up and he apparently raped a women and beat her up brutally to the point where she fell into a coma.  This is similar to what happened to Jennifer in Picking cotton with Ronald Cotton. Jennifer was raped and held at knife point with a knife but her throat and was horribly raped by a African American and it turned out this person had also raped someone else.  The women both accused Ronald Cotton of committing the rape and sustain the fact that he was the man that raped them.  Ronald ended up doing time in prison with a sentence of 45 to life in prison which is basically the rest of his life, for a crime he sustained he was innocent for.  He paid time for a crime he didn't commit and when he was arrested he was asked where his girlfriend was from and he said "White." and he was seen by everyone as a Rapist who raped white women and had a bad  reputation for being black African American.  He ended up doing all the time he did for no reason and its time no one not even can get back, wishing you can go back in time but its impossible.  The men of central park also paid time for a crime they had nothing to do with and had a record or Rapist/sexual offenders.  Their lives changed drastically after this event marked their lives and changed how  they lived in the after math.  The after math of Jennifer and the women's life also changed as well as the central park five men, its a event they cant erase from their lives that will never be replaced and you cant go back in time to change things.  If that were possible, everyone would take the time to  go back and relive or change things from before.  Paying time or being unfairly accused is something that happens daily.  Innocent people pay for others mistakes and faults and its time the innocent people can never replace or fix because time and life continues.