Justice delayed is justice denied — but for two Black men in Boston, wrongly accused and forced to carry the weight of a murder they did not commit, even long-overdue justice arrives bittersweet. After more than three decades of lost time, social stigma, and the erosion of trust in the very system meant to protect them, the City of Boston has agreed to pay $150,000 to the two men who were exonerated for a 1989 murder they did not commit.
This settlement, while welcome, feels more symbolic than substantial. It is a reminder that America’s criminal justice system has a long history of punishing Black men first and asking questions later. It’s a reminder that behind every statistic about wrongful convictions are human beings whose names, dreams, and reputations were stolen.
A Crime, A Lie, A System That Looked Away
In 1989, Boston was a city still divided by race and class, its policing culture marked by aggressive tactics and a deep mistrust between law enforcement and the Black community. In that environment, two young Black men became convenient targets for a city desperate to close a murder case. Evidence was thin, witnesses were coerced or unreliable, and bias filled the spaces where facts should have been.
The convictions stood for decades — until new evidence surfaced and the truth finally clawed its way to light. Through the tireless work of innocence advocates, legal researchers, and a shifting tide of public awareness, the case was re-examined. It turned out, as is so often the case, that the prosecution’s “truth” was built on a foundation of systemic racism and bad policing.
When the men were finally exonerated, their lives were already unrecognizable from what they might have been. Jobs lost, relationships destroyed, years stolen — no amount of money could ever restore what was taken. Yet, even in the face of this devastation, their courage and perseverance tell a larger story about the resilience of the human spirit and the fight for dignity in a society that too often denies it to Black people.
The Price of Lost Freedom
$150,000. That’s the amount Boston has agreed to pay these men for their ordeal. It might sound like a victory, but it’s really an insult wrapped in a press release. When you divide that sum across decades of suffering — thirty-plus years — it amounts to less than $5,000 a year for each man. Imagine losing every holiday, every chance to build wealth, to raise a family, to live without suspicion, and then being told your life is worth the price of a used car.
Boston, like many American cities, has made gestures toward reform, but this case shows that the deep wounds of racial bias in the justice system are far from healed. A truly just system wouldn’t just compensate victims after the fact — it would prevent the injustice in the first place. It would require accountability for prosecutors who manipulate evidence, for police who lie under oath, and for city governments that hide behind settlements instead of structural change.
The Bigger Picture: America’s Shadow of Wrongful Convictions
According to the National Registry of Exonerations, Black Americans make up nearly half of all wrongful convictions, even though they represent only about 13% of the U.S. population. In cases involving murder, Black people are seven times more likely than white people to be wrongfully convicted. Those numbers don’t just reveal a flaw — they expose a system functioning exactly as it was designed: to protect privilege and punish Blackness.
The story of these two Boston men is not just a local tragedy; it’s part of a nationwide epidemic of racialized injustice. It echoes the wrongful convictions of the Central Park Five, the railroading of countless others, and the ongoing struggle for equal treatment in every courthouse and police station across America.
Justice Must Be More Than a Check
Justice must mean repair. It must mean institutional reform. It must mean that the next generation of Black men in Boston — and everywhere else — doesn’t grow up knowing that they could lose their freedom simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time while being the wrong color.
The exoneration of these men is a victory, yes. But it’s also a warning: until this country confronts the roots of systemic bias with the same urgency it uses to protect power, we will continue to see more names added to the list of the wrongfully accused.
Boston’s $150,000 is a receipt for decades of injustice — not the repayment of a debt.
