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February 27 - March 17, 2020
they had Asperger’s,
nanotechnologist
“Samantha has a crush on me,” Sasha told Karl,
cavalcade
“I’m transgender.”
samatha is trans
genderqueer.”
Debbie and Karl
Sashas parents
heterosexual
residential street close to the border between Oakland and Berkeley.
November 1987.
Sequoia Elementary
platonic
poverty—
turf
lucrative
You can take those ones in. Just know that those ones will be your and my children together, and when they get crazy and out of control, help them. Because they’re going to need help.”
scholarship.
missives:
Never let your obstacles become more important than your goal.
Jasmine, was already four and a half months pregnant when her grandmother took her to the doctor to get checked. She was fourteen years old
his father was sometimes in prison for drug offenses.
happy kid, always dancing and singing, playful and silly.
brought him to church every
Richard’s friends knew his mom ran a tight ship—no disrespect, no talking back.
Jasmine had two sisters, Juliette and Savannah, each of whom had children of their own.
family. But on December 30, 2006, when Richard was nine years old, everything changed. A car parked in San Francisco was sprayed with bullets, killing three people inside. Savannah was one of them. She left behind two little girls, ages four and eleven. They moved in with Richard, Jasmine, and Derick. Jasmine treated her nieces as daughters, but it was hard on everyone. The girls had lost their mother.
And I have to share the love, you know? Even it out.”
Jasmine had always hoped to continue her education.
the wall, just like the others did. His grades weren’t great, but that wasn’t the point.
He wanted people to be happy,
He was always joking, goofing around.
That’s how everyone knew Richard—as the funny one, the one who made people smile.
Fruitvale
Richard’s hecka goofy and hecka obnoxious, and would do something stupid. He would do the craziest stuff.”
Richard joined in because if his friends were fighting, he’d fight too. Skeet hit one of the kids with a skateboard.
Richard got all goofy, excited to be reunited with his friends, sure that when the court appearance was over they would get to go home.
Richard was released on GPS early on, but eventually he was sentenced to a group home in Redding, California, a three-and-a-half-hour
Richard had lost two aunts to murder—
He was smart and focused and a quick study, and he seemed to be enjoying himself. Richard loved having a job.
He liked being a man with a paycheck.
“Because I already have a bad rap and I want her to know that I’m really trying to do everything I can to not be like that. I’ma graduate. And I’ma make her happy.”
goofy and boisterous—qualities that made
BART
adolescent
couldn’t have been easy to sleep with Lloyd nearby. He bounced up and down trying to make the bus shake, rapped a snippet of the song “Started from the Bottom” by Drake, screeched random words like “Chinchilla!” and “Obituary!” He shouted down the aisle to a girl he’d noticed when they climbed on board, “Hey! Girl! Excuse me!”
He flicked the lighter by the hem of Sasha’s skirt. Nothing happened. Lloyd was still shouting up to the front of the bus.
as Sasha’s skirt erupted into a sheet of flame. When the doors closed again, he hadn’t moved.
Passengers sprint for the exits, shrieking and coughing. “It’s a fire! It’s a fire!” Some of the other kids on the
Richard ran after the bus. Suddenly, it lurched to the curb. Passengers spilled out, yelling and coughing. Another
Richard seemed sad.
