HBO’s ‘Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn’ Shows America’s Repeated Boiling Point

Protests in the streets; the death of an innocent Black life; promises, plans, and pleas for change–the tragedy of America’s modern race problem is that it goes beyond a one- two- or three-time tragedy. It goes beyond counting altogether, to the point that such a description–death, protest, promises made, promises broken–belongs as much to 2020 as it does any stretch of recent US history. Brooklyn in 1989 was no different–in fact, it is painfully familiar, despite its relative obscurity to the nation’s memory–as HBO reminds us in Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn. Directed by Muta’Ali Muhammad, the hour-and-a-half long documentary tells the story of Yusuf Hawkins, a 16-year old boy killed in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. His death is explained through four main angles: those who loved him, those accused of killing him, those who investigated, and those leading the political response. Together these different perspectives paint a vivid picture of the Brooklyn of 30 years ago, not very different from the Brooklyn of today.

False perceptions of New York’s melting pot are brought into focus both accidentally and intentionally. On the accidental side, police stories are frustrating to watch as detectives in present-day interviews describe Yusuf as not looking “like a thug” in their attempt to humanize him, suggesting him to have been a good kid (You know, as opposed to the ones who deserve to be killed), as well…