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Jojo’s mother, a young, drug-addicted woman in obsessive love with her boyfriend. Leonie's life is marred by the loss of her brother, Given. His violent death casts a long shadow over her existence, driving her toward substance abuse as a means of coping with grief and guilt. She sees visions of Given whenever she’s high on drugs, which is one of the many reasons she finds it impossible to quit.
Her relationship with Michael—the white father of her children—involves a great deal of patience and self-denial. In order to make their partnership work, she has to navigate the fact that mixed-race love is not widely accepted in the community she lives in. Michael’s family is actively racist and violent toward her, rejecting her children and refusing to give her any support or hospitality. She accepts this as a given, trying to keep Jojo and Kayla away from their white grandparents as much as possible.
Leonie’s attempts to fulfill her role as a mother are often undermined by her addiction, and by the fact that she’s not actually very committed to parenting. She loves her children, but they aren’t a priority for her. However, she often feels jealous and angry when she sees Jojo stepping into the role of surrogate parent for Kayla. Although she knows it’s really Jojo who takes care of his sister, she hates it when Kayla turns from her and demands her brother. Leonie also has a strained relationship with her parents. Pop disapproves of her choices and worries for Jojo and Kayla’s well-being, and Mam has never had high expectations for her. Leonie is defined by feeling disappointment, a feeling that she’s only able to escape by getting high.
