Amidst the recent #BlackLivesMatter protest taking place nationally, HBO released the trailer for the timely documentary Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn, which premiered earlier this year at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival. Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn premieres August 12 at 9pm on HBO.

On August 23, 1989, a young black man, Yusuf Hawkins, went with friends to view a used car in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. After being misidentified as the boyfriend of a local white girl, Hawkins is attacked by an angry mob and murdered. His death sparks outrage, bringing simmering racial tensions to a boil. The aftermath of Hawkins’s death swells to a social movement and engulfs the mayoral election as Hawkins’s family demands justice. When the 12 youths associated with Hawkins’s death are mostly set free, routine marches in Brooklyn threaten to tear communities apart in the name of redemption.

Director Muta Ali’s feature debut exposes New York City’s raw underbelly of prejudice. Featuring Spike Lee, Jesse Jackson, and David Dinkins, Ali probes the problematic portrayal of black victims in the media and how the racial divide of Americans is deeply entrenched in our national psyche.

Jessica Fairbanks, Tribeca Film Festival

A deeply emotional film with chilling resonance in today’s America, Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn, explores the 30-year legacy of Yusuf’s murder as his family and friends reflect on the tragedy and the subsequent fight for justice that inspired and divided New York City.