Yusef Hawkins was a 16-year-old African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 youth who was shot to death on August 23, 1989 in Bensonhurst

Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

Bensonhurst is a neighborhood located in the southwestern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn.-Geography:Sometimes erroneously thought to include all or parts of such neighborhoods as Bath Beach, Dyker Heights, and Borough Park, or to be defined by the streets where the concentration of...

, a heavily Italian American

Italian American

An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...

 working-class neighborhood in the New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 borough

Borough (New York City)

New York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is composed of five boroughs. Each borough now has the same boundaries as the county it is in. County governments were dissolved when the city consolidated in 1898, along with all city, town, and village governments within each county...

 of Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

. Hawkins and three friends were attacked by a crowd of 10 to 30 white youths, with at least seven of them wielding baseball bats. One, armed with a handgun, shot Hawkins twice in the chest, killing him.

Hawkins had gone to Bensonhurst that night with his three friends to inquire about a used 1982 Pontiac automobile that was for sale. The group's attackers had been lying in wait for black or Hispanic

Hispanic

Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...

 youths they believed were dating a white neighborhood girl. Police later said Hawkins was not involved with the girl.

Hawkins' killing was the third killing of a black man by mobs in New York City during the 1980s; the other two victims being Willie Turks

Willie Turks

Willie Turks was a subway car maintenance worker who was fatally beaten by a white mob in the Gravesend section of Brooklyn, New York...

 who was killed on June 22, 1982 in Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

 and Michael Griffith who was killed in Queens

Queens

Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....

 on December 20, 1986. The incident uncorked a torrent of racial tension in and around New York City in the ensuing days and weeks, culminating in a protest march through the neighborhood led by the Reverend Al Sharpton

Al Sharpton

Alfred Charles "Al" Sharpton, Jr. is an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist, and television/radio talk show host. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidential election...

.

Trials

The two men who led the mob that beat and chased Hawkins were tried separately. Joseph Fama, the man who fired the shots that killed Hawkins, was convicted of second-degree murder on May 17, 1990. The other main defendant in the case, Keith Mondello was acquitted on May 18, 1990 on murder and manslaughter charges, but convicted of 12 lesser charges including riot, menacing, discrimination, unlawful imprisonment and criminal possession of a weapon. The acquittal of Mondello on these serious charges led to further protest marches through Bensonhurst led by Al Sharpton.

Sentencing

On June 11, 1990, sentences were handed down in the Hawkins case. 19-year-old Fama received a sentence of 32⅓ years in prison. Mondello, also 19, received a sentence of 5⅓ to 16 years in prison.

Other defendants

Other members of the gang that chased and beat Hawkins were tried as well. John Vento was convicted of unlawful imprisonment and received a sentence of 2 to 8 years in August, 1990 and was released in 1998. A fourth man, Joseph Serrano, was convicted on the charge of unlawfully possessing a weapon and sentenced to 300 hours of community service

Community service

Community service is donated service or activity that is performed by someone or a group of people for the benefit of the public or its institutions....

 on January 11, 1991. The acquittal of Vento on a murder charge, and the light sentence handed out to Serrano sparked more protests by the African-American community in Bensonhurst. Before that march was set to begin, on January 12, 1991 Al Sharpton was stabbed and seriously wounded by Michael Riccardi

Michael Riccardi

Michael Riccardi is an Italian American New Yorker who attempted to kill Reverend Al Sharpton on January 12, 1991. While Sharpton was leading a march in the Italian neighborhood of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn protesting the death of Yusuf Hawkins, who was shot and killed by Joseph Fama in the...

 in a Bensonhurst schoolyard. Sharpton later recovered from his wounds.

Release of Mondello

After serving eight years in Attica Correctional Facility

Attica Correctional Facility

The Attica Correctional Facility is a maximum penitentiary in the town of Attica, New York, operated by the New York State Department of Correctional Services. After it was constructed in the 1930s, it held many of the most dangerous criminals of the time. A tear gas system is installed in the mess...

, Keith Mondello was released on June 2, 1998, to the dismay of the Hawkins family. On January 22, 1999, Mondello and Hawkins' father, Moses Stewart, met in a NY1

NY1

NY1, New York One, is a 24-hour cable-news television channel focusing on the five boroughs of New York City. In addition to news and weather forecasts, the channel also features human-interest segments such as the "New Yorker of the Week" and the "Scholar Athlete of the Week", and specialty...

 television studio, where Mondello apologized for his role in the killing. Stewart died at the age of 48 in 2003. Fama is not eligible for parole until 2022, when he will be just over 50 years old.

Memorials

• Spike Lee's
  Spike Lee
  Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
  
   film Jungle Fever
  Jungle Fever
  Jungle Fever is a 1991 American drama film directed by Spike Lee, starring Wesley Snipes and Annabella Sciorra. It was Lee's fifth feature-length film. The film mainly explores interracial relationships...
  
  is dedicated to the memory of Hawkins, and Hawkins' photograph appears at the beginning of the film.
• A faded mural painted soon after Hawkins' death is still visible on the side of a building on Verona Place in Bedford-Stuyvesant. It was repainted in August 2011 by street artist Gabriel Specter.
• The song "Snacks and Candy" by the band Miracle Legion
  Miracle Legion
  Miracle Legion was an American college rock band formed in 1983 in New Haven, Connecticut. They earned modest renown, especially in their native New England region. The original lineup consisted of singer/guitarist Mark Mulcahy, lead guitarist Mr. Ray Neal, drummer Jeff Wiederschall, and bassist...
  
  was written about this event.
• The song "Slipping into Darkness" by Queen Mother Rage was dedicated, in conclusion, to Hawkins
• The song "Treat 'em Right" by Chubb Rock has the following reference in the first verse: "In your hearts and minds never forget Yusef Hawkins". (VML, 01Jul11)
• Tupac Amaru Shakur wrote a poem about Yusuf's death, "For Mrs. Hawkins".

External links

• For the Color of His Skin: The Murder of Yusef Hawkins and the Trial of Bensonhurst. - book review
• 'A Gentle Young Man Who Would Be 16 Forever' Book review of For The Color Of His Skin.
• Review/Television; Examining the Bensonhurst Killing Television review of Frontline documentary Seven Days In Bensonhurst.