National Students for a Democratic Society says take the streets for Sonya Massey!
On July 6th, 2024 Sonya Massey, a 36 year old Black woman and beloved mother of two teenage children, was murdered in her kitchen by racist killer, Deputy Sheriff Sean Grayson in Springfield, Illinois. Massey had called 911 for help to report a possible intruder near her home. Notably, the cop who shot Sonya Massey failed to turn on his body camera before entering her house.
Upon entering her home, both cops began harassing Massey and ordered her to move a pot of water from the stove. As she moved the pot, she was berated, sworn at, and threatened by Grayson. He yelled, “I’ll f–king shoot you in the f–king face.” She ducked, saying, “Ok, I’m sorry.” Those were her last words. Deputy Grayson shot Sonya Massey three times, with a fatal shot to the head. While she was still breathing, Grayson declined to call emergency medical services and said he would not waste his own medical supplies on her. When additional law enforcement arrived at the scene, Grayson lied and said Sonya Massey “came at him,” referring to the woman he had just murdered as a “f–cking b-tch” and “crazy.”
Following the lynching of Sonya Massey, the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office attempted to cover up their heinous crime. For 16 days, law enforcement lied to Massey’s family, suggesting a neighbor might have shot her, then later finding the nerve to allege that Sonya committed suicide. Before the footage was released, the family did not even know this was a police shooting. Only once the footage was released did the sheriff’s office move to fire Grayson, shamelessly attempting to save face. That same day, the killer cop Grayson was indicted by a grand jury on first-degree murder charges. He pleaded not guilty, but we all know the truth. Grayson has worked for six different law enforcement agencies in four years and was discharged from the Army for serious misconduct. As Massey’s father asked, why was Grayson even hired?
The callousness of the Sangamon County Sheriff’s office comes as no surprise. The response to Sonya Massey’s distress call shows that it was anti-social business as usual for the police. It is the reality for the Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities, and all oppressed peoples who know all too well the weight of national oppression/state violence. Killer cops like Sean Grayson feel they have the right to be the judge, jury, and executioner, and their accomplice pigs have the audacity to cover up the crime.
Sonya Massey was pronounced dead in the same hospital as her ancestor William Donnegan, a Black man also lynched in 1908 during a white supremacist riot in Springfield, Illinois. The only difference now is that the lynch mobs have badges. Today’s lyncher, Sean Grayson, faces murder charges, but there is more to be done. Sonya Massey should still be here, and we will honor her memory and the countless others killed by state-sponsored police violence by taking action. We say no more!
Sonya Massey’s lynching reminds us that neither of the two major parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, is interested in ending police terror and systemic oppression. This change will come from the people’s movements. The people of Illinois, a Blue state, are no strangers to the inaction and complicity of the Democratic Party. Democrat Chicago mayors oversaw the systematic torture carried out by Jon Burge and the CPD, and the more recent shootings of Dexter Reed, Alex Toledo, Laquan McDonald. In neighboring Wisconsin, the Democrat Governor, Tony Evers, and the Democrat Mayor of Milwaukee, Cavalier Johnson, rolled out the red carpet for the 4,500 cops for the Republican National Convention. During the convention, a police squad of Columbus, Ohio cops killed Samuel ‘Jah’ Sharpe in broad daylight. We should be outraged.
We take inspiration from African American communities in their historic battle against racist and political repression in the U.S. This is why National Students for a Democratic Society demands community control now! We echo Massey’s family in their calls for Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell to resign immediately. SDS chapters and our allies are urged to work side by side with their local National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression affiliates in the fight for community control of the police. Together we will protest and take the streets demanding freedom, justice, and equality for all until we get it.
On August 19th, National SDS will be in the streets of Chicago marching on the Democratic National Convention and call on all progressive people to join us and demand an End to Police Crimes! Community Control of Police NOW! Take to the streets for Sonya Massey!
Rest in Power, Sonya Massey.