Horror stories about the loss of Black Life in America never seem to stop or take a break.
From Springfield, Illinois, to Milwaukee during the Republican National Convention, we get reports of Blacks who died at the hands of or in the hands of cops and so-called hotel security guards or employees.
Sonya Massey, a Black woman living in the state capital of Illinois, cowered in her home before Sangamon County Deputy Sean Grayson, a White man, fatally shot her in the face.
The family of Sonya Massey is demanding justice after they say authorities tried to cover up her fatal shooting by a sheriff’s deputy in Springfield, Illinois, by initially claiming it was “self-inflicted.” Police body-camera footage showed this was a lie. The 36-year-old mother of two was shot dead in her own home on July 6 after she called 911 for help.
“This is the worst police shooting video that I’ve seen. It is so senseless,” remarked civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, who has taken on the case for the grieving family. “(Ms. Massey) needed a helping hand. She did not need a bullet to the face,” he said.
Since bodycam footage and the horrible news has spread there are plans for protests in Springfield and around the country in early August. It has also since come out that the deputy involved worked for several different departments between 2020 and 2023 for short times and was kicked out of the military before going into law enforcement. There were plenty of red flags here.
President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, and Black entertainers and celebrities have spoken against or expressed deep concern about the killing. The Justice Department is also investigating the case.
Ms. Massey, who suffered from mental distress, had called police because she was afraid someone was trying to break into her home. A police video captured the callous shooting and was released on July 22. The 36-year-old woman was killed July 6.
When police arrived, they began looking into Massey’s home with flashlights, a neighbor, Cheryl Evans, told the Guardian. Evans wondered why police had not knocked on her door, as they typically have done in the past when searching for suspects. Eventually, Grayson and his partner entered the home where they began speaking to Massey, reported the Guardian July 22.
“After an initial discussion and request for Massey’s driver’s license, Grayson spotted a pot of boiling water on the stove and ordered Massey to remove it to avoid starting a fire. In doing so, Massey asks the officers—who visibly distance themselves from her as she goes to handle the pot—why they moved away from her.
“ ‘Where you going?’ she asks them.
“ ‘Away from your hot steaming water,’ Grayson answers, with a laugh, before Massey responds: ‘Away from the hot steaming water? Oh, I’ll rebuke you in the name of Jesus.’ ”
“With his gun drawn, Grayson closed the distance between himself and Massey, who was beginning to kneel behind a counter with her hands up.
“You better f*c*ing not, I swear to God I’ll f*c*ing shoot you right in your f*c*ing face,” Grayson vows, and as bodycam video shows.
“Massey can be heard saying, ‘I’m sorry,’ as Grayson continues to advance. ‘I’m sorry,’ she says again as Grayson fires three shots, striking her with a bullet below the eye that exited from the back of her neck,’ ” the Guardian reported.
“As Massey lay dying on her kitchen floor, Grayson says he’ll go get his medical kit to render aid. ‘That’s a headshot. She’s done,’ Grayson says before going to get the med kit.
“As the pair stand there with their guns still drawn, Grayson says: ‘I’m not taking a bullet out of her f*c*ing head,’ then points out that the water from the pot had reached his feet,” the Guardian reported.
So, a Black woman obeys a deputy’s command, is shot to death and it’s her fault?
“Grayson’s partner tends to Massey and at one point says, ‘she’s still gasping’ and wonders what’s taking Grayson so long with the medical kit. When paramedics and other officers arrive, one can be heard asking, ‘Where’s the gun?’ Grayson replies that Massey had a pot of boiling water and threatened to rebuke him in the name of Jesus. Paramedics took her to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead.”
The deputy was fired and arrested. He faces three counts of first-degree murder and is being held without bond until his Aug. 26 trial.
“Massey’s death carries on a troubling legacy of racial violence in Springfield: Massey’s family said she is a descendant of William Donnegan, a Black man who was lynched by a white mob but survived during the city’s infamous 1908 race riots that took 17 Black lives over a two-day period in mid-August of that year,” the Guardian observed. Those incidents led to the founding of the NAACP.
Ms. Massey’s father and others, according to the Guardian, said deputy Grayson “not only didn’t try to help her after firing his fatal shots but tried to prevent his partner from doing so. Making matters perhaps even worse, someone appears to have tried to cover up the shooting.
Police radio traffic obtained by the Guardian shows someone, apparently at the scene of Massey’s killing, saying her wound was ‘self-inflicted.’ A dispatcher asks for clarification and a man confirms for a second time: ‘self-inflicted.’ Grayson also did not activate his body-worn camera until after the shooting, an apparent violation of protocol,” the Guardian reported.
In Milwaukee, D’Vontaye Mitchell, a Black man died at a hotel as he was held face down with four employees holding and sitting on him. Mr. Mitchell was involved in an encounter at the downtown Hyatt Regency hotel.
He may also have been in mental distress. He pleaded for his life while bystanders videotaped his life draining away. They say the 43-year-old was beaten while held down by hotel staff. He died June 30. His death is being investigated as a homicide.
And, Samuel Sharp Jr. was shot to death by Ohio cops outside of the Republican National Committee perimeter July 16.
In Chicago is the other side of the tragedy as the city mourns the killing of a Black female postal worker. Fellow letter carriers and union leaders gathered July 22 to lament the fatal shooting of Octavia Redmond, 48, as she delivered mail in a Black neighborhood.
She was shot multiple times July 19 and the car believed to have been used by her assailant was found torched. Ms. Redmond was a mother and grandmother. Media reports and authorities say around 11:38 a.m., she was approached by a male offender and shot several times before the killer fled.
Her death is truly another Windy City tragedy.
Over the July 4 weekend, more than 1,000 people were victimized by shootings or killed around the country. Many of those injuries and deaths occurred in Black neighborhoods.
We have constantly been warned by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan about the consequences of our evil to one another.
Already some have called for more federal involvement in Chicago and other cities alongside some calls for deployment of National Guardsmen in different capacities—from public transit security, to bringing a Boston public high school under control to manning understaffed prisons.
All of this moves along dangerous trend lines. Are we watching and listening or are we too distracted by trifling, lewd things in a savage nation?
“There’s so much death in Chicago that they call it now not ‘Chicago,’ but Chiraq: Our children live under gunfire; they are traumatized. Our young people do not feel that they’ll live to 20,” said Minister Farrakhan in his 2014 message “The Troubled World:
What Should We Be Doing?” delivered at Mosque Maryam in Chicago. He also spoke of FBI plans for our community, the militarization of U.S. police, and the targeting of Black youth under the guise of a war on drugs, crime and violence.
“And if you, my brothers, don’t change, don’t stop the killing of each other, then the Wrath of God will descend, and blood will be seen in the gutters of Chicago—but it will be your blood, our blood. But then, God will answer swiftly. You are the ‘People of God,’ but you are acting like Agents of The Devil, and that has to stop,” said Min. Farrakhan.
“So brothers, with the ‘beefs’ that are going on: I would like, and we would like, to aid you in resolving this. Because if you’re going to be under attack, the only way you can survive is by unity. So all ‘beefs’ must end,” he warned.
—Naba’a Muhammad, editor, The Final Call
