While body camera footage showing Sonya Massey being fatally shot by a downstate sheriff’s deputy earlier this month has reignited calls for police reform and accountability, even those used to organizing around the cause said they were shocked by details of the shooting.
“I’ve been in the movement for about 60 years,” said Frank Chapman, the executive director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. “In all my years in the movement, I have not seen nothing as heartbreaking.”
Hundreds of protesters gathered Saturday morning for a rally at Federal Plaza in the Loop in a renewed call for the passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, federal legislation that calls for various police reforms following Floyd’s murder by an officer in Minnesota in 2020.
The protest, organized by Chapman’s group and organizations like GoodKids MadCity and the Chicago Torture Justice Center, aimed to push for greater accountability within police departments nationwide.
“I think as far as the Democrats are concerned, it’s a case of political will, and they haven’t had any political will to make it happen,” said Faayani Aboma Mijana, 31, an organizer with the Chicago Alliance. The group said there had been some movement in Chicago through organizing at the local level, such as through an ordinance its organization advocated for in 2021 that established police district councils meant to increase community oversight within the Chicago Police Department.
The Floyd Justice in Policing Act was approved by U.S. House Democrats in 2021 in the wake of Floyd’s murder, but ultimately died in the Senate. Vice President Kamala Harris released a statement on Tuesday, joining President Joe Biden in condemning Massey’s death and calling on Congress to pass the Justice in Policing Act. The act sought to ban chokeholds by police officers, increase police accountability by developing national standards and ban qualified immunity that helps shield police officers in cases of accountability.
At Saturday’s rally, protesters heard from local activist groups before they marched down North Dearborn Street around 12:30 p.m. Other organizations represented included Northside Action for Justice, Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation, Rainbow PUSH Coalition and the U.S. Palestinian Community Network.
In ongoing calls from organizers for police reform and abolition, Massey’s death marks the latest police killing garnering national attention. But, for the rally of Chicagoans just 200 miles away from Springfield, where Massey was killed, the issue hits close to home.
Massey killed following police call of prowler
The chain of events that led to the death of Massey, 36, began when deputies on July 6 a little before 1 a.m. responded to a 911 call about a possible prowler outside her home in Springfield.
When Sean Grayson, 31, and another deputy officer arrived, Massey took a few minutes to answer the door and appeared confused. The two officers said they had not found anyone around her home. Inside, a conversation ensued over a pot of boiling water on Massey’s stove.
According to body camera footage, Massey said, “Oh, I’ll rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” before Grayson angrily replied, “You better (expletive) not. I swear to God. I’ll (expletive) shoot you right in your (expletive) face.”
Grayson pointed his gun at her, asking her to drop the pot of water. Massey said “I’m sorry” and ducked, according to the footage, and Grayson soon after fired three shots at her. According to the Sangamon County coroner, Massey died of a gunshot wound to the head.
Grayson appeared to discourage his partner from getting his medical kit to try to stop Massey from bleeding before the paramedics arrived, according to the footage, though he later went to retrieve his own medical kit.
Grayson was ordered detained in custody about two weeks after the shooting by Sangamon County Judge Ryan Cadagin with a court date set for Aug. 26, court records show. Grayson, who has been fired from the Sangamon County sheriff’s office since the shooting occurred, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct in Massey’s death.
The Sangamon County sheriff’s office was the sixth Illinois police department Grayson had worked for in less than four years, according to records from the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board. Court records also show that in the last decade, Grayson has two DUIs on his record in nearby Macoupin County.
Records obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests — and first reported by the Invisible Institute, the Investigative Reporting workshop, and Capitol News Illinois — show Grayson’s conduct to be a law enforcement officer had been called into question before his time with Sangamon County.
Included in his personnel records provided by the Kincaid Police Department is a document showing that he was discharged from military service for serious “misconduct.” But the records don’t elaborate on the nature of the misconduct.
During his time with the Logan County Sheriff’s Office, in 2022, Grayson got into a high-speed chase in the city of Lincoln with another motorist after observing that “she slid down in their seat,” as if she was trying to hide from me,” records show.
The records showed that Logan County Chief Deputy Nathan Miller interviewed Grayson after the incident and indicated there were “discrepancies in the report vs the video.” In his report, Miller recommended that Grayson receive training that included “additional traffic stop training, report writing training” and take “high-stress decision-making classes.”
Neither Miller nor anyone from the Kincaid Police Department could be reached for comment on Saturday. Grayson’s attorney was also unavailable for comment Saturday.
Young activists step up to ‘make our voices heard’
Massey’s death has not only reinvigorated activism seeking to end police violence, but it has also drawn new faces to the cause.
“I never came to rallies before,” said Angela Hunter, 58, who felt Massey’s death compelled her to attend Saturday’s protest.
“I thought about how prayer, you know, you’ll keep doing it, (but) it seems like you get no results,” she said. “And then one day, boom, answered prayer. So I said, ‘It’s probably like that with those rallies. They keep doing it, and then one day, they’ll get a major result.’”
While the protest centered around Massey’s death, protesters rallied around other recent police-related deaths, including Samuel Sharpe Jr., who was killed by police several blocks from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, and D’Vontaye Mitchell, who died in Milwaukee after being pinned to the ground by hotel security staffers. Speakers also connected their cause with that of Palestinians in the ongoing Israel-Gaza war.
Though the crowd that filled Federal Plaza Saturday appeared energized, Chapman lamented that this was a smaller protest than expected, given the situation.
“It [the protest] should be bigger,” said Chapman. “But don’t use that as an excuse for slowing down. Whether there’s five or 2 million, that’s our responsibility.”
Police reform and abolition causes have drawn significant youth participation, and Saturday’s rally was no different.
“I just hope that this sort of action will make our voices heard,” said Emma Adaya, 20, a student at the University of Illinois at Chicago involved in their chapter of Students for a Democratic Society. “And that’s what really matters, that Congress hears the voices of the youth. And not just the youth. Every generation out here today.”
CAARPR and other groups present at the rally plan to be involved in a march on the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which takes place from Aug. 19-22, as part of ongoing protests over the Israel-Gaza war. CAARPR said at Saturday’s event they also plan to hold a rally on Aug. 7 to demand action for survivors of torture and wrongful convictions.
“We can’t just do this on Saturdays,” civil rights attorney Cierra Norris told the crowd. “They’re daring you to do something about it.”
The Associated Press contributed.
