Who is Steven "Casper" Lawson?

Inspired by Resilience and Creativity

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Steven “Casper” Lawson was born on May 6, 1978. At age 41, he passed away on July 19, 2019. Growing up, Lawson and his brother had a close relationship. Reflecting on his passing, his brother looked up to him. She notes, “He was really big for his age. Even though we were only 16 months apart, he always looked like he was five or six years older than me. Haha! He was like my brother and my dad.”

Their dad left the scene when they were six and seven years old and they never saw him again. Lawson’s brother says:

“My brother was all I had. He was protective over me. But I would love to basically poke the bear until he came after me. I think I enjoyed getting the rise out of him. We were always getting in trouble as kids running through the streets. We were part of a chicano gang in South Phoenix. Our friend “Payaso” was always with us when we were kids and is still here with me today. Growing up he was considered our brother.”

Payaso, Lawson, and his brother, jumped into the gang at the same time. They began going into jail when they were 12 and 13 years old. Over the years whenever his brother was not in jail, he “was there and always would stay out in the streets with me so I wasn’t alone. We were separated in the system for the next 25 years. I was 13 and we were finally reunited when I was 38 years old” his brother explains.

Lawson spent two years in the Arizona state juvenile corrections. After that he was transferred to the adult system at the age of 15 and sent to adult prison (AZ DOC) and spent another 7 ½ years imprisoned. Then he was released for about six months and went back to jail for 16 years.

“Every time one of us would get out, the other would be back in so we would always miss each other”.

When Lawson was in juvenile he started drawing a lot and his brother notes that he “was really good at it. He loved art. That was always everything to him. Even his handwriting was like art. Haha, that was always his hustle. He would draw envelopes, greeting cards, pretty much whatever anyone asked for. He loved tattooing as well. He was really good at that too”.

Lawson’s brother was released from jail ten years before him. She came home and went straight to working at an Electrical Company in preparation for when her brother got released. Following that time, Lawson and his brother brainstormed ways to use his artwork to create a business. They went through a few ideas, but ultimately decided to do skateboards. His brother says, “My kids like to skate well and we thought it would be really cool to see kids riding skateboards with my brother's artwork. Though it would be the perfect way to share his passion with the world.”

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