March 6, 2026
On Thursday, February 26, Hampden-Sydney and the College’s NAACP chapter welcomed Kevin Richardson to discuss criminal justice reform and his experience as a wrongfully convicted minor in New York’s penal system.
In 1990, 14-year-old Richardson and four other teenagers—Anton McCray, Raymond Santana, Yusef Salaam, and Korey Wise—were convicted of the 1989 assault on a female jogger in New York’s Central Park. The group’s convictions relied heavily on coerced confessions and, notably, lacked any physical evidence linking any of the teenagers to the crime.
Richardson served seven years of a 10-year sentence, and the remaining three years on parole, before all five men were ultimately exonerated in 2002, after the actual perpetrator confessed to the crime, and DNA evidence confirmed his account. The group is known as the Exonerated Five.
Richardson has become an internationally known voice for social and criminal justice reform in the US, serving as CEO of the Kevin Richardson Foundation, which advocates for those falling through the cracks in the criminal justice system.
The first of the day’s two events held at Hampden-Sydney was a workshop titled “Courage, Perseverance, and Resilience” (CPR), an interactive presentation on how to safely respond to police and other authorities if approached.
Dean of Culture and Community Desiree Washington-Nicholson praised the workshop as “a profound moment for us all.”
The second event, titled “A Fireside Chat – discussing social injustice, resilience, and civil rights advocacy,” was a well-attended talk held in the Schoellkopf Family & Friends Lounge in Venable Hall.
The evening’s discussion delved deeply into the case’s history and the determination and strength shown by the five men, despite once-seemingly insurmountable odds, to prove their innocence.
Richardson gave detailed accounts of the criminal case and his personal story of growth.
“I was a kid, just scratching the surface of life,” he says. “The only thing I was guilty of was breaking my curfew.”
Despite this, he was thrust into a situation he could not fully comprehend, abused and interrogated, all without parental or legal guidance.
Throughout the evening, Richardson emphasized that what happened to him and his peers was unjust, but also that he sees a divine purpose in it.
“God tests those who can handle it,” he says. “They woke up five sleeping giants.”
The fireside chat concluded with an emotional question-and-answer session in which Hampden-Sydney students and other attendees asked about maintaining hope in the face of systemic failure. Richardson’s message was one of proactive advocacy rather than bitterness. He urged attendees to channel negative energy into positive action that can uplift others.
Ryan Nicholson ’27, who served as interviewer for the talk, later described the night as “powerful,” saying that a major takeaway was “understanding that life will inevitably present obstacles, but we have to move forward and be resilient despite them.”
The events of the day served as a powerful reminder of the College’s commitment to forming "good men and good citizens," challenging students to think critically about their role in promoting justice in a complex society.