Brooklyn Neighborhood Renames Block In Honor Of Yusuf Hawkins The 16-Year-Old Killed By White Mob In 1989
Yusuf Hawkins, a Black teen killed by a white mob, Brooklyn has renamed a street to honor him after thirty years after his death.
A ceremony took place in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood on Hawkins’ birthday, with the community coming together on the corner of Verona Place and Fulton Street which has now been co-named Yusuf Kirreim Hawkins Way. “I’m so happy and grateful that this is happening today,” Diane Hawkins, Yusuf’s mother, said according to Gothamist.
Hawkins was 16 years old when he was killed in 1989. The teen was living in East New York at the time, joined a group of friends to go shop for a used car in Bensonhurst, a predominantly Italian-American neighborhood. Once the teens arrived in Bensonhurst, they were misidentified by a mob of white men who were looking for a Black man accused of dating a white woman. The group of about 30 white men, carrying guns and baseball bats, surrounded the teenagers. One of the men went on to fatally shoot Hawkins. The murder sparked nationwide protests, led by the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Nation of Islam’s Minister Louis Farrakhan. Residents in Bensonhurst confronted the protesters at the time, waving watermelons and shouting “n****rs go home.”
The gunman identified as Joseph Fama, who continued to insist that he was innocent after being convicted, while several others faced multiple counts. That included radio personality Pasquale Raucci, also known as Paddy Duke was initially facing murder charges before he was convicted on a lesser count. Raucci was fired from HOT 97 last year after the HBO documentary, Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn revealed his alleged involvement in the fatal shooting.
Hawkins’s cousin, Darlene Brown, said the family is grateful that their loved one’s memory continues. “From day one it’s been overwhelming for the family, but for the most part I just thank God that he will still live on when we’re not here because he leaves the Hawkins name on the map,” she said.
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