Pubdate: Sun, 23 Nov 2003
Source: Newsday (NY)
Copyright: 2003 Newsday Inc.
Contact:  http://www.newsday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/308
Author: Luis Perez, Staff Writer

HUNDREDS ATTEND SLAIN BOY'S FUNERAL 						

Daesean Hill was only 8 years old, but he was eulogized in a packed
East New York funeral home Saturday as a "shining light" who could
leave a legacy of hope by helping to eradicate the plague of drugs and
gun violence.

About 400 people -- family members, friends, schoolchildren and
strangers -- listened in a chapel of Ponce Funeral Home as speaker
after speaker urged them not to let Daesean's shooting death on Monday
fade away to no larger purpose.

"Daesean has made an impact, and some of us who may live to be 80 may
never do that," said the Rev. Herbert Daughtry, minister of House of
the Lord Church in Brooklyn. "If we could vow here today that this
business is going to stop in Daesean's memory, y'all could have a new
community."

Daesean, known affectionately as "Dae Dae," was walking to his home on
Hendrix Street with his stepfather, Stelly Chisolm, and two younger
siblings when he was caught in crossfire that police say was set off
by a drug dispute.

He was struck by bullets in the chest and wrist. Police have arrested
two suspects, charging them with second-degree murder and gun
possession, and are looking for four more.

Daughtry admonished the young people in the crowd to become activists
and take back their streets.

"Y'all know where it is," Daughtry said, referring to drug
dealers.

Sitting before Daesean's small white coffin, which was closed and
covered in red carnations, were his mother, Kimberly Hill, 28, and
Chisolm. Beside the coffin was a large frame holding dozens of family
photos of the smiling boy.

"This is the last angel that we are going to lose to this nonsense,"
said Councilman Charles Barron (D-East New York), who said a library
at Daesean's school, P.S. 158, would be renamed in his honor.

Happy memories of the boy brought laughter from those gathered to
mourn him. The Rev. James Warren, a cousin, said in his eulogy that
Daesean was a charmer who was the gregarious star of his wedding ceremony.

But now, Warren said, Daesean has become a "shining
light."

"I lost my baby brother to these streets," Warren said, referring to a
sibling. "I've lost best friends. Something's got to give."

Borough President Marty Markowitz seconded Daughtry's fervent
plea.

"East New York, never again will we allow young people who are here
right now to see the body of an 8-year-old," he boomed, to which one
woman in the crowd shouted back: "You need to help us!"

Many children attending the funeral wore T-shirts and bandanas that
read "Dae-Dae."

"It's overwhelming," Randy Hill, 26, Daesean's uncle, said of the
large crowd, which spilled onto the sidewalk.

Qyadaisha Cuttino, 8, who is in Daesean's third-grade class, came with
her aunt, Keysha Jeter, 33.

Jeter said when Qyadaisha's mother passed away recently, Daesean was
supportive of her niece.

"Out of all the kids in her class, he was the only one who gave her
confidence," Jeter said. "He was a wonderful kid."

Some at the funeral said they hoped for change, but held
reservations.

"I wonder if it will end," said Sheryl Hinkson, 42, a cousin of
Daesean who grew up in East New York and now lives in Baldwin. "The
75th Precinct always leads in homicides. It's starting to get a little
better, but we still have people who are selling these drugs who are
causing these problems."

Daesean was buried in Rosedale Cemetery in Linden, N.J.
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