A memorial service Tuesday marked the 30th anniversary of an infamous murder case in Queens that revealed deep racial tensions in the city, and led one civil rights activist to prominence. Borough reporter Ruschell Boone filed the following report:
It's been 30 years since her son was chased to his death by a racist white mob in Howard Beach, but to Michael Griffith's mother, the events of that night are still vivid in her mind and the pain of losing her son is still very raw.
"When somebody takes away a part of it never goes away," said Michael's mother Jean Griffith-Sandiford. "You always feel that pain. It never goes away."
Griffith was one of three black men who were taunted and attacked by white teens, some of them carrying baseball bats, after their car broke down and they stopped at a pizza shop in Howard Beach.
Griffith was chased into traffic and was hit by a car on the Belt Parkway.
His friend Timothy Grimes managed to get away while another man, Cedric Sandiford, was severely beaten. The case fueled demonstrations, laid bare racial tensions in the city, and shocked the nation.
"Thousands of people marched," said attorney and civil rights activist C. Vernon Mason, who spoke at the service, held at St. Matthew’s Roman Catholic Church in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. "Thousands of peopled fought. We knew that black lives mattered in 1986."
Leading the protests was the Reverend Al Sharpton, who reunited with Griffith's mother at an event to honor and remember the 23-year-old. It was Sharpton's first big civil rights fight. His role in the case with several other civil rights activists thrust him in the national spotlight.
"Gangs of people came out in the streets in Howard Beach calling us the N-word and throwing things at us and that is what began to shake the city to see the raw racism in the North that we thought only happened in the South," Sharpton said.
Three men were eventually convicted of homicide, in a case brought by Special Prosecutor Charles Hynes. Hynes, who went on to serve as the Brooklyn district attorney for 24 years, also spoke at the vigil.
Griffith's family members say they have forgiven his attackers but they can't forget what happened and they don't want other New Yorkers to either.
"I'm quite sure a lot of people who moved in have no knowledge of, no idea of what happened 30 years ago," said Michael's brother Christopher.
"It's not to say that everyone in Howard Beach was bad because there were people who helped Cedric that night, but it's just unfortunate that it happened and it happened to my brother."