Donna Massey mourns the loss of her daughter, Sonya Massey. Photo: Thomas J. Turney / The State Journal-Register/USA Today Network
Sonya Massey’s brutal murder at the hands of the police has resulted in anguish and anger but no difference in how state violence is protested. Instead, we see surrender to the crumbs of condolences and fake concern expressed by people who have the power to stop the killing.
In the year 2023, an estimated 1,352 people were killed by police in the United States, meaning that 3 or 4 people were killed daily on average. Police killings took place in all but 13 days in that year, and 2024 does not look any better, with 760 people, 182 of them Black, killed through July 17, 2024.
These dismal statistics must be at the forefront of our thinking as we contemplate the killing of Sonya Massey by Springfield, Illinois police on July 6, 2024. Officer Sean Grayson killed Massey but his partner kept his body camera running during the encounter and fatal shooting. Now millions of people have seen that a woman who suffered from a psychological condition was shot by the police after she called them for help.
According to her family Massey drove herself to a local hospital for mental health care in the days prior to her killing and on July 5 officers made several visits to her home. The next day she called to report an intruder. Despite clearly being under mental duress, officer Sean Grayson shot her in the face, three times.
There are vigils, protests, and a variety of actions for Sonya Massey taking place all over the country. Rebellions have been forestalled by the arrest and first-degree murder charge lodged against Grayson. Yet that lack of action is problematic. Massey certainly deserves our attention and our protest, but ironically the existence of video footage turns us into voyeurs subjected to trauma with little or no benefit to past or future victims. How many police snuff films must we see before taking any meaningful action?
It must be pointed out that police killings caught on video are highly problematic. On the one hand they may bring justice in a particular instance. But the very nature of creating public outrage also has the effect of making what is in fact common appear to be an aberration. Dependence on footage also renders the secret killings forever invisible. They are generally covered up and survivors are left with anguish and perhaps a monetary settlement, but they are without even acknowledgment that a murder took place.
There is still no governmental body that keeps track of police killings. It is left to concerned people to investigate on their own. Sites like Mapping Police Violence use crowdsourcing to do what the United States Department of Justice will not: count deaths at the hands of law enforcement.
The 2012 publication of the Malcolm X Grass Roots Movement document, “Operation Ghetto Storm” created a storm of protest, and its statistic that a Black person is killed by police, private security, or vigilantes every 28 hours became universally known. The phrase “every 28 hours'' was repeated over and over again and became a staple of protest. But years later, very few people know that 3 or 4 people of every race are killed by police every day. Four years after the rebellions in the wake of George Floyd’s killing the pattern is the same: There is a shocking video and protest about a particular case but any action taken is in a retrograde direction.
Since the 2020 rebellions we now see 69 different militarized policing facilities, cop cities, emerging all over the country. The response to that year of action is more policing and more killings. The police are actually increasing the body count every year.
The other downside to giving the appearance that Sonya Massey’s death or any other police killing is a rarity is that the scoundrels who have the power to end the carnage are instead allowed to engage in fake protest. New York City mayor Eric Adams described himself as being, “...enraged and heartbroken by her (Massey’s) senseless murder.”
Apparently, Adams forgot about the case of Win Rosario. Two officers in the New York Police Department (NYPD) shot 19-year-old Rosario to death in similar circumstances, when his family called for help as he experienced a mental health crisis. Massey’s killer claimed to be afraid of a pot of hot water and Rosario was shot when he held scissors. The now “heartbroken” Adams has taken no actions against Rosario’s killers and in fact, the NYPD commissioner routinely interferes in disciplinary actions involving officers.
Adams is not alone in his opportunism and cynical pretense. President Joe Biden also claimed to be heartbroken as he offered prayers and condolences. Of course, he could empower the DOJ to investigate or even prosecute any police involved killings if he were so inclined. Not to be outdone, his heir presumptive, Kamala Harris, called Massey’s family, who sadly succumbed and were satisfied with mere words from people powerful enough to bring about some change. Massey’s cousin was entirely too impressed. “For her to take time out of her busy schedule to just make that one little phone call to our family, meant the world to me. That’s the most amazing thing that’s ever happened in my life.” She even felt compelled to add, “She definitely has my vote.”
That statement gets to the heart of the problem. The failure to make demands to stop police murder is just one example of how Black people too often victimize themselves with wishful thinking and gratitude for receiving a few crumbs.
Our humanity cries out for Sonya Massey and all those killed by agents of the state. Yet that humanity is diminished because the state arrested Grayson, an act of little consequence that tells us nothing about the outcome of a criminal case. It seems the system knows that window dressing can keep angry people from activating themselves.
We cannot separate the police from the carceral state which has 1 million Black people locked up or from policies promoted by Biden and Harris which allow the U.S. to kill people in Gaza or Haiti with public funds paid by Massey’s family and all Black people. There will be more grieving families absent an understanding that Black people are treated the way all colonized people are treated and that this condition must end.
The nature of this system means that it must be done away with and that there will be many more Sonya Masseys if there is no systemic change. There must be organized action for all the victims, whether their killings take place on camera or not. We can grieve for our people but we must also face our reality, which can only worsen if we think that a president Joe Biden or Kamala Harris will do anything except protect the state as they swear to do. What do we swear to uphold? Surely not satisfied with one arrest of a killer cop and platitudes from politicians. We don’t honor the dead with fakery and cowardice.
Margaret Kimberley is the author of Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents. You can support her work on Patreon and also find it on the Twitter, Bluesky, and Telegram platforms. She can be reached via email at margaret dot kimberley at blackagendareport dot com.
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