This year marks the 15th anniversary of Man Up! Inc. building up its East New York, Brooklyn community. The social services organization’s mission is to mentor Black youth, mostly from low-income families, on anti-violence and anti-gun measures. The organization was founded by the activist A. T. Mitchell, after the fatal shooting of 8-year-old Daesean Hill, which shocked the East New York community in 2003.
Man Up! Inc. intends to mark the somber 15-year anniversary by celebrating the young child who has helped shape the lives of thousands of people since his passing through their work.
Saturday, the Brooklyn community will be commemorating the Nov. 17, 2003, anniversary of Hill’s death. That is the day when the grade-schooler was caught in crossfire as he walked home with his stepfather, Stelly Chisholm, and his 5-year-old brother Terrence and 3-year-old sister Kaliyah. He was fatally hit by gunfire reportedly resulting from a drug dispute. The case shook the entire city.
“Seeing this young child die as we stood with his family at the hospital had a profound effect on me,” Mitchell, Man Up! founder and executive director, told the Amsterdam News. “A group of young men and I looked around and wanted to understand what was going on in our community, what were the resources that were needed. We looked at the devastating unemployment rate. We looked at how underserved the community was, and we decided to rebuild our community, our streets one block at our time. That’s when we created Man Up.”
Mitchell founded this now nationally renowned community advocacy organization with the original backing of City Council and Assembly members Inez Barron and Charles Barron, with city and state funds.
“For 15 years, Daesean Hill has inspired our grassroots organization to help our community do for self,” said Mitchell. “We are on the frontline of all our community battles, from violence interrupters, to peacekeepers, to mentors and guides. We have afterschool, summer camp and resource centers throughout our community.”
This Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018, Man Up! will bring Hill’s mother Kimberly Hairston from Georgia, where she relocated with her family, to celebrate her son.
She appreciates the support and the remembrances, and encourages the whole community citywide to come through. She told the Amsterdam News, “Over the years A.T. has been doing a lot of great things in the community, and it makes me really proud. We are releasing balloons on my old block Daesean Hill Drive [Hendrix Street] at 4 p.m. on Saturday. Then we are heading to the Prince Joshua Avitto Community Center at 5 p.m. for a community program.”
She said that despite all the major media attention her son’s death brought, “After the funeral it was over … all of the hundreds of people that were around … I’ve only really spoken with A.T. and Man Up!. My surviving kids are survivors of gun violence. They were in the middle of that.”
Her daughter is studying pre-law at HBCU Xavier College, she said, but the family is struggling financially, and her son is now incarcerated, never getting over the killing of his older brother. “Nobody put anything in place for my children.”
She said she was eventually able to forgive her son’s killers—three were sentenced in his death, but those wielding guns don’t understand how it affects “person who you kill … the family … the community.”
Hairston added, as she prepared to fly to New York, “I am going to start my own scholarship fund for Dae Dae to keep his legacy alive, and just give back to the community. Things should be in place for survivors of gun violence. I can’t do anything for my son any more, but if I can help another family get through a tragedy, I am more than willing to help.”
In May 2018 Mitchell (chair of Community Board 5), Man Up! Inc., and Good Shepherd Services opened the Prince Joshua Avitto Community Center, a multimillion dollar, multi-resource building in the heart of East New York to serve the neighborhood. It was named for another victim of violence, 6-year-old Prince Joshua Avitto, who was stabbed to death in 2014 by an emotionally disturbed man.
The Man Up! Inc. organization has several offices. The main one is located at 799 Van Siclen Ave., Brooklyn, and Mitchell said that they are always looking for volunteers to help build the community and lead Black youth to success. He said they do that by providing after school programs, finding jobs for the jobless and finding homes for the homeless.
“We learn lessons from tragedies,” said Mitchell. “We heal. We build and we support each other. Daesean has helped so many through our organization, and P.J. is doing the same. We celebrate our young heroes. We hold their families close.”
For more information, log on to www.manupinc.org.