Harvard BLSA's statement on the Killing of Sonya Massey

On July 6th, 2024, Sonya Massey was viciously killed in her own home by Deputy Sean Grayson of the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office. The Harvard Black Law Students Association grieves the loss of Sonya Massey’s life and is deeply outraged by yet another tragic act of state-sanctioned violence.

Massey had called the police to investigate “a prowler near her house in Springfield.” Massey briefly spoke with the two officers in her living room and searched through her purse to comply with their request for identification. During this conversation, Grayson also instructed Massey to remove a boiling pot from the stove. When she complied with the command, the police moved away from her. As things escalated, Massey appeared to grow fearful of the police and said, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.” Grayson then “threaten[ed] to shoot her in the face and scream[ed] at her to drop the pot.” Grayson apologized and ducked, then stood up again. Grayson then fired his service pistol at her three times, including one fatal shot to her head.

There is little to add to a description of something so horrendous. Many aspects of the apparent state-sponsored murder says much without editorialization. Massey greeted the police at the door with “don’t hurt me” and to which her eventual killer replied with

“Why would we hurt you? You called us."

The Atlanta Black Star reports that she descends from William Donnegan, a man lynched by a racist white mob during the 1908 Springfield race massacre. The Guardian reports that a deputy reported to the dispatcher that Massey’s death resulted from a “self-inflicted” gunshot wound, and her family confirms that the police put forth this narrative. The Guardian also noted that Grayson “had served with six different departments since 2020” and “also has two convictions for driving under the influence.”

In these details we see the familiar motif of law enforcement weaponizing fear of Blackness against terrified Black victims. Despite overt expressions of concern and compliance, nothing Massey did saved her from this ending. Once again, the person hired, paid, and armed to manage situations such as this was the very person who brought about the worst possible outcome. Now, Massey joins the wretched procession of names all too familiar to Black people: from Eleanor Bumpers to Eric Garner, those forever associated with their demise at the hands of law enforcement.?

In response to this event, HBLSA issues the following declarations:?

1. HBLSA calls on the federal government to bring an end to qualified immunity and create meaningful methods for the public to hold police accountable.?
2. HBLSA calls on Cambridge, Somerville and other state and local governments in Massachusetts to re-evaluate its distribution of funding to police departments and explore reinvestment to social services.
3. HBLSA demands that Harvard reassess its relationship with policing and schedule discussions regarding the Legacy of Slavery project to ensure that the enterprise is restorative to the Black community of Harvard and contributes to the mitigation of state violence against Black people.

We use the last section of this statement to emphasize that Sonya Massey, much like Eleanor Bumpers and Eric Garner, was a person. They were more than a name and they were far more than the manner of their murder. Sonya Massey was a 36-year-old mother of two children. She lived much life and had much more life to live. There are friends who will never speak with her again, family who will never know her support again, and places that will never know her presence. The gravity of losses such as these compels our commitment as an organization to justice. We must spend our careers doing what we can to build a world where people can grow old and remain free to chase their passions unencumbered.