Our friend Dyshan
A life lost, and one of self-improvement, focus and love.
In the fall of 2021, Full Court Peace repaired three basketball courts in Trumbull Gardens, Bridgeport. Most people call the area the terrace.
Local hero and native to the area, Harry Bell, invited us to do the work. Years earlier, I drove up the same neighborhood with a car full of paint, paintbrushes and rollers. I arrived to find the scene of nine people being shot the night before. One of the local kids who spent the day bettering his community with us lost his uncle that night, the only victim to die in the shooting.
Upon arrival this second time around, Harry introduced me to Dyshan, who said he was there to help with whatever we needed. Dyshan was quiet, only using a few words to communicate that he was handy, could fix the cracks in the cement, that he could work on the impossible task of taping the curved lines before we painted them.
Half an hour later, 20 FCP kids showed up from local communities to lend a hand. They were too many for me to manage all at once. Without my asking, Dyshan steadily took over.
He calmly and gently showed kids who had never used an industrial broom, a leaf-blower or a paintbrush how to manage their assignments. The kids knew his name within 15 minutes. They called him over for additional advice, rightfully bypassing me. Dyshan, who was from a community unknown to the suburbs and vice versa, was running the show, able to speak to anyone from any walk of life that there that day to make things better in the community he loved.
The day ended with Dyshan and me doing finishing touches. While we painted missed spots and picked up trash, he started telling me his ideas for the kids in the neighborhood.
What started as small talk turned into years of communication. Dyshan was more than just talk, though.
He gave up alcohol, sent me plans for his own charity to help the kids in the terrace learn from the neighborhoods elders.
He organized Trunk or Treat events for kids to be able to safely celebrate Halloween, and it became an annual thing. All the while, he spent time with kids outside on the courts, letting Full Court Peace know when more resources were needed. Dyhan never wanted a kid left out.
Eventually he got his Commercial Driver’s License and was gainfully employed. He moved out of town to get away from temptation, he told me, wanting to raise his daughter the right way.
On Monday night, March 31, Dyshan was apparently shot and killed in a Bridgeport Police Officer-involved shooting. Harry and I, despite the numbness, spoke briefly this morning.
“He had moved away to get away from all of this,” he said. “He came back for our friend’s funeral.”
Rest in peace to a community leader, a kind soul who turned his life into what he said he would: someone on track to improve himself, ready to lend a hand to anyone from his neighborhood who needed his guidance.
