We were very sad to learn that Casey Handal, an early advisor for A Year of Courageous Conversations, passed away at the age of 41 after a brave fight with cancer. Casey is survived by her wife Zadette Rosado and daughters Payton & Reese.
You may know Casey from the neighborhood pride flag story that made the national news — and the community response that made Barrington proud.
Our next session is on Confronting Prejudice, for which Casey was a beautiful messenger. Though she said her family was "pretty devastated" by the initial incident, she used the media coverage to encourage dialogue:
"In a perfect world, I'd love to have a conversation with this person, and find out why they chose to do what they did, and maybe show him or her that we are all human, and should be spreading love and kindness, not hate."
In honor of Casey, and apropos of this moment, the following is a passage from Governor Pritzker's inauguration speech in January 2019, may we all take to heart —
“I see the natural beauty of Illinois every day—in our people. More than anything else I see it in our capacity to be kind.
Consider the story a few weeks ago of Casey Handal and Zadette Rosado. Casey and Zadette moved to Barrington last May and they proudly flew a rainbow flag behind their home. And then someone snuck into their yard and stole it, replacing their pride flag with an American flag – ironic because the thief doesn’t understand that you rob the American flag of meaning when you steal a person’s symbol of self-expression.
That could have been the end of the story, but Casey and Zadette’s neighbor Kimberly Lesley Filian wouldn’t let it be. She put a pride flag in her yard in solidarity. And then she kept buying them because her neighbors kept asking for them too. Soon there were pride flags everywhere – a place that hate had tried to fill was conquered by love instead.
As Kim noted: ‘Frankly, I’ve grown weary of this, of all this hate. And I gotta say, it just seemed like there was one thing that I could do that I had control of.’
Remember that our ability to grow weary of hate fuels our enormous capacity to be kind.”
Thank you, Casey.