Content warning: This essay refers to incidents involving substance use, overdose, and violence against unhoused people.

Two months ago, in September, my cousin was killed. My mother called me and said, “Your cousin died of a fentanyl overdose.” A day later she said that he died from two gunshot wounds to the chest in a homeless encampment. The information about his passing was sparse and inaccurate at first. He was 38, two years my senior. Read more…