Casey Goodson, Jr.

First haircut since January 2020!

As I write this, I’m thinking about how precious time and energy are these days. Maybe it’s just because I live in a house of exhausted people, but I feel very humbled and grateful that there are people who open and read these newsletters. Thank you. 

We are hanging in there but it’s like there is this orb of available energy allotted to our household and there isn’t enough for everyone to take what they need so we just shift it around, constantly, figuring out where each person can skimp: David sleeps less, I write less, Khalil uses the iPad for longer. There’s a cumulative impact of 10 months of isolation. 

I’d have to imagine all kids at Khalil’s age (3.5) are a little quirky, but as he went to bed last night, hugging his blanket covered in trout and catfish images (his latest obsession) and cheek to cheek with the egg smasher he took from the kitchen and named “birdie,” I had to reassure myself that we will all need to be resocialized in 2021.

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Content warning: police brutality

Because Columbus, Ohio officers don’t wear body cameras, we don’t know what happened to Casey Goodson Jr., a 23-year-old Black man. We do know that he didn’t have any criminal record, was returning from the dentist—holding sandwiches for his brother and grandmother, and putting his keys in his own front door—when he was shot and killed by an undercover sheriff’s deputy, with his 5-year-old brother watching.

That white deputy, Jason Meade was undercover on a fugitive case that had nothing to do with Casey Goodson. Jason Meade, incidentally, has a history of complaints of inappropriate violence. In recent years, Jason Meade has also given sermons in which he claims that while on duty he throws the first punch in order to emulate Jesus, the “manliest man.” 

Casey Goodson’s death is heartbreaking, cruel, and another example of systemic violence against Black men and boys in the US. Take the time to learn about Casey, a kind and hard-working man. Listen to his mother. Please sign this petition and take action. 

Nothing else for today. Just a plea to continue to work for justice for the Black sons, like Khalil, who deserve safety. 

Love to you