Jessica Barnes knows the importance of kindness during tragic times, and she knows the importance of police.
She learned the hard way the need for both when her 18-year-old son, Censere “CJ” Calhoun, was shot to death in 2019.
On Tuesday, the grieving-mother-turned-advocate formally recognized two Birmingham police officers for their work in the community — Sgt. Coleecia Cainion and Det. Albanellys Perez.
Barnes, founder of the Censere Effect and regional lead of the Woodson Center’s Voices of Black Mothers United, said both officers are known for their work in the community.
Of Cainion, Barnes said, “She’s such a people person and goes above and beyond to assist people. She takes time out to listen and to talk to people and explain things.”
Perez, who is bilingual, is an asset to the community and the department, especially when language can be a barrier, Barnes said. “Everybody has a lot of wonderful things to say about her.”
Barnes made the presentation at the Birmingham Police Department’s National Night Out at City Walk. Police departments throughout Alabama and the nation hold the event each year on the first Tuesday in August as a community-building campaign.
“It’s important to victims and families to know the police department is with you,’’ Barnes said. “They support you and we support them. We want to work together to combat violence.”
Police Chief Scott Thurmond agreed.
“We want to get our citizens engaged, out to meet and greet,’’ Thurmond said. “It’ just a great opportunity.”
Barnes said the fact that she is handing out commendations to police officers, or anyone, shows how far she has come since CJ was killed on Dec. 31, 2019.
“Never in a million years would I have imagined I would be in this role,’’ Barnes said.
CJ, a senior at Minor High School, was shot in the parking lot of the Marathon Pit Stop on the corner Alabama 269 and McDonald Chapel Road about 3 p.m. that Monday.
Witnesses said they heard multiple shots fired — at least 14 or 15 — and two people inside a silver sedan were struck including CJ. He was taken to UAB Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Barnes said in a previous AL.com guest column it was soon after, and with the prodding of others, that she realized her calling.
“I would help other grieving mothers navigate the trauma I just endured from losing a child to violence,’’ she wrote. “I knew my CJ would not want me to stay in despair.”
“He was a fun, outgoing, loving soul who would do anything for anybody. Despite living only 18 years, he had completed his earthly assignment because he touched so many lives in the community,’’ she wrote. “I knew he would want me to pick myself up and move on, looking for ways to help others. So, I had to do that for him.”
Barnes, who works in the City of Birmingham’s Public Works Department, said she is a natural listener, and has always somewhat been a counselor of sorts to others.
“I was told, ‘You are what people need to see. You are the living example of when tragedies arise how you can go on, be resilient and keep moving forward,’’' she said.
“Even though it was a tragic situation,” Barnes said, “I am grateful I have the opportunity to work with other mothers to help them find strength, to give them encouragement, to give them someone to talk to.”
“I’m grateful for opportunity to encourage, motivate, inspire other mothers to let them know that even though a tragedy happened, there is a new normal,’’ she said, “and you can live and be happy and keep moving forward.”
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