Yusuf Hawkins was killed 31 years ago by an angry white mob in Brooklyn. Now, a new HBO documentary is telling his story.
Entitled “Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn,” the documentary details how 16-year-old Hawkins’ life was stolen in 1989 in the city’s Bensonhurst neighborhood, reported Time. Done by filmmaker Muta’Ali Muhammad, the documentary’s storyline still permeates today.
According to the documentary, Hawkins and his friends ventured to the predominately Italian-American neighborhood where he was murdered to look into buying a used car.
The white mob was said to be upset because a Black guy “was rumored to be dating a white girl they knew.” Hawkins and his friends had nothing to do with it, but he was fatally shot because of the color of his skin.
Hawkins’ family arranged protests that were attended by hundreds in Bensonhurst, where they were met by more racists, who would today be dubbed “counter protestors.”
“We got all these nasty remarks, people holding watermelons, throwing soda,” Hawkins younger brother Amir Hawkins told Time. “I was 14 at the time. We were walking into a danger zone. We were not just locking arms because of unity but just to keep close in case something went wrong.”
White civil rights attorney Norman Siegel corroborated Amir’s version of events.
“People calling me an N-word lover, throwing objects at us, including eggs,” Norman told Time. “Marches in the South, we didn’t have that heckling.”
Rev. Al Sharpton who was working with Hawkins family was stabbed and sent to the hospital.
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“Having worked so hard for so many years, to see where we are today is heartbreaking,” Siegel said. “It’s clear that the change in rhetoric, policies and postures from the very top has exacerbated divisions and made many people feel that what they were doing in terms of attacking other people or asserting hateful positions was being condoned.”
Both Siegel and Amir highlighted 1989 and 2020’s parallels.
“It’s 31 years later and could what happened to Yusuf Hawkins happen tonight in Bensonhurst? Yes,” Siegel told Time. “Even though we should have learned from the past, the dynamics are very similar. People don’t want you in their neighborhood because you’re different.”
“When they see the film, it’s going to allow them to see that we were dealing with this 31 years ago,” Amir concluded. “This is not just something that’s new. Stuff like this has been around.”
