Photo Courtesy of HBO
Yusuf Hawkins was only 16-years-old when he was gunned down by a mob of white teenagers in Bensonhurst, a section of Brooklyn. Now, 31 years later, an intersection has been renamed Yusuf Kirreim Hawkins Way to honor him, according to Spectrum New York News 1.
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Race has been an issue in America since its colonization, and while camera footage may make things more apparent, black people have always had white supremacy, police brutality and mob violence to remind us how different we are treated from everyone else. And while The Civil Rights Act of 1964 put a legal end to segregation, many neighborhoods are still segregated due to factors like class, income and race.
Bensonhurst, the section of Brooklyn, was apparently one such place. According to the Chicago Tribune, Bensonhurst boasted a mostly white population throughout the 80s, and is portrayed as “a hotbed of racial intolerance.” On August 23, 1989, Hawkins was walking with a few friends when he encountered a mob of angry white teenagers.
The mob had allegedly assembled because a young, white teenage girl was throwing a party, and the mob members were afraid that black people would be there. They
carried baseball bats and a .32-caliber pistol, as they waited at a local candy store.Once they spotted the young man’s group, they immediately yelled expletives, including the n-word, and Hawkins ran away, afraid of what the mob might do. According to police, he was shot twice in the chest after being hunted down, and died from his injuries.
Hawkins’ senseless murder would spark outrage and protests in his community, especially the mob’s supposed ringleader was acquitted in 1990. Joseph Fama, the alleged gunman, was convicted of second-degree murder the following year, a lighter sentence than first-degree. Rev. Al Sharpton, along with Hawkins’ little brother, Amir Hawkins, hit the streets of Bensonhurst to bring awareness of the teen’s untimely death and the lack of justice served for it.
Sharpton also made an appearance on 2020’s documentary, “Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn,” to help bring awareness to Hawkin’s murder and discuss the change in racial climate over the last 30 years.
Yusuf Kirreim Hawkins Way is located in Brooklyn where Verona Place and Fulton Street meet. It’s near his childhood home and was announced last Friday on what would’ve been Hawkins’ 48th birthday.