Murders of Yusuf Hawkins and of Huey Newton



      Yusuf Hawkins was a young black who was chased by some 30 young whites, some wielding bats, and he was shot and killed. The incident happened August, 1989, in a predominantly working-class white section of Brooklyn called Bensonhurst, ethnically being mainly Italian-American or Jewish.

      The murder of Yusuf Hawkins is covered in the New York Times everyday starting 8-25-89 and going through 9-4-89. Right after the murder, marches were organized in the nearby Flatbush section of Brooklyn, which is predominantly black, and when the marchers, of whom most were black, marched through Bensonhurst, some of the white bystanders, residents of Bensonhurst, yelled racial epithets at marchers. There is no indication in the New York Times articles whether or not black marchers yelled back any racial epithets, and we are left to assume they did not.

      The largest march, having 5000 to 7500 marchers, was held a week after the murder, and it resulted in violence. Billed as a "Day of Outrage and Mourning" by organizers, demonstrators shouted "war! war!" and "take the bridge! take the bridge!" before charging police lines, hurling rocks and bottles at officers. Several protesters near the front carried two coffins to represent the murder not only of Yusuf Hawkins but also of Huey Newton, the co-founder of the Black Panthers who was murdered by a black in a drug-ridden section of Oakland CA the day before Yusuf Hawkins was murdered by a white. The New York Times article about the demonstration pointed out that Huey Newton was killed in Oakland, but it did not emphasize that the suspected killer was not white. (NY Times, 9-1-99, page B1.) The Los Angeles Times article about the story, written by LA Times staff writer John J. Goldman, left open the possibility that Huey Newton was killed because of his race. John Goldman wrote the following: "Oakland police described Newton's death as a drug-related homocide. Authorities have ascribed no racial motivations to his death and no arrest has been made." (LA Times, 9-1-89, page A4.) Goldman's words were inaccurate and misleading. A black man named Tyrone Robinson had been arrested days earlier, and news of the arrest had made national newspapers on August 26, 1989, including the front page of the Los Angeles Times, Goldman's employer. On the other hand, Goldman was careful to relay in the article that there were whites in Bensonhurst who had yelled racial epithets and who had held up watermelons at marchers when marchers had gone through Bensonhurst on days prior to the large demonstration which motivated Goldman's article. (News of Tyrone Robinson's arrest: LA Times, 8-26-89, page A1; 8-28-89, page A21; 8-29-89, page A1; 8-30-89, page A1; NY Times, 8-26-89, page A7; 8-27-89, page A27; Washington Post, 8-26-89, page A12; San Diego Union-Tribune, 8-26-89, page A1.) (Articles in other newspapers about the demonstration which resulted in violence and in the closing of the Brooklyn Bridge: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 9-1-89, page A14; Toronto Star, 9-1-89, page A19; San Diego Union-Tribune, 9-1-89, page A4.)

      Tyrone Robinson was convicted of the murder of Huey Newton in August 1991 and was sentenced to 32 years. (LA Times, 10-10-91, pA22; 12-5-91, pA19.) Joseph Fama, the white who shot Yusuf Hawkins, was convicted of murder in May 1990, and he received 32 years to life. Keith Mondello received 32 years to life for his role in the killing, and he was convicted of rioting, unlawful imprisonment, menacing, and racial discrimination. (LA Times, 5-18-90; 6-12-90.)

Posted at http://home.att.net/~phosphor on August 7, 1999.

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