Walter "Hawk" Newsome is an American law school graduate who co-founded Black Lives Matter of Greater New York alongside his sister Chivona Newsome.

Biography

Growing up, Newsome argued with his parents and younger sister, Chivona, about events they saw on the news. Newsome says he "was brought up to have a revolutionary heart" by his parents, who met in the 1960s at a civil rights protest. When Hawk and Chivona were young, their father became ill, forcing Hawk to look after his younger sister. Newsome dropped out of high school, but later attended Concordia College in

Bronxville, New York Bronxville is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States, located approximately north of Midtown Manhattan. It is part of the town of Eastchester. The village comprises one square mile (2.5 km2) of land in its entirety, a ...

and received a J.D. degree from Touro College Law Center in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Afterwards, Newsome worked as a

paralegal A paralegal, also known as a legal assistant, or paralegal specialist is a professional who performs tasks that require knowledge of legal concepts but not the full expertise of a lawyer with a license to practice law. The market for paralegals i ...

for the

Bronx District Attorney The Bronx County District Attorney is the elected district attorney for Bronx County, which is coterminous with the Borough of the Bronx, in New York City. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New York state laws. (Fed ...

's Office and also worked as a

project manager A project manager is a professional in the field of project management. Project managers have the responsibility of the planning, procurement and execution of a project, in any undertaking that has a defined scope, defined start and a defined f ...

at the

law firm A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to r ...

Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker, (known as Wilson Elser), is a law firm with over 1,000 attorneys in 41 offices throughout the United States and one in London. History The predecessor firm to what is known today as Wilson Elser start ...

. He unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the

New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five Borough (New York City), boroughs. The council serves as a check against the Mayor of New York City, mayor in a may ...

from

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, garnering around 3% of the vote on a platform Newsome said was "too radical". He subsequently co-founded Black Lives Matter of Greater New York with Chivona Newsome. Chivona later stepped down from the group to run for a

U.S. House The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

seat in The Bronx. In September 2021, Newsome called COVID-19 vaccine mandates "racist" and "discrimination." In November 2021, Newsome threatened "riots", "fire", and "bloodshed" in the streets if

mayor-elect An ''officer-elect'' is a person who has been elected to a position but has not yet been installed. Notably, a president who has been elected but not yet installed would be referred to as a ''president-elect'' (e.g. president-elect of the Unit ...

Eric Adams reinstated the

New York City Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

's (NYPD) controversial anti-crime units. Later, when asked whether he condemned riots and burning down buildings after a police use-of-force incident he did not approve of he said, "I’m not going to condemn, nor am I going to condone it." Newsome has filed two ongoing civil lawsuits against the NYPD, alleging that he was assaulted by police officers and falsely arrested during two separate protests in 2017 and 2018. A video posted by the ''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

'' shows a police officer punching Newsome before several police officers tackled him to the ground. Newsome was holding a sign that read: " Blue Klux Klan".

Relationship with BLM

In June 2020, then-

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

described Newsome in a tweet as a "Black Lives Matter leader." This description of Newsome prompted a response from managing director of the

Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGN or the BLMGNF) is an American organization dedicated to organizing and continuing activist activities in the Black Lives Matter movement. The organization currently has no leader and most ...

Kailee Scales, who stated that Newsome "has no relation to the Black Lives Matter Global Network", "is not the 'president' of BLM or any of its chapters.", and that his group "is not a chapter of BLM and has not entered into any agreement with BLM agreeing to adhere to BLM's core principles.", adding "The only official chapter of BLM in New York is Black Lives Matter NYC."

Personal life

Newsome lives in The Bronx in New York City. He regularly attends

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

service and smokes

cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder l ...

s. Newsome often wears a

bulletproof vest A bulletproof vest, also known as a ballistic vest or a bullet-resistant vest, is an item of body armor that helps absorb the impact and reduce or stop penetration to the torso from firearm-fired projectiles and fragmentation from explosions. T ...

and drives a rotation of rented vehicles for security and safety purposes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newsome, Hawk Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American politicians Activists from New York City African-American activists American anti-racism activists