Yusef Hawkins movement Apollo Theater
Reverend Al Sharpton escorts Diane Hawkins, the mother of Yusef Hawkins following a service at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. .Yusef Hawkins (also spelled as Yusuf Hawkins) was a 16-year-old African American youth who was shot to death on August 23, 1989 in Bensonhurst, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Hawkins and three friends were confronted there by a crowd of 10 to 30 youths, at least seven of them wielding baseball bats. One, armed with a handgun, shot and killed Hawkins..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 youths they believed were dating a neighborhood girl. Police later said Hawkins was not involved with the girl.
