Sonya Massey Should Still Be Alive, Say Activists

Jul 31, 2024

Activists across the United States held vigils on Sunday, July 28, as part of a national day of mourning for Sonya Massey, a Black woman recently killed by a white sheriff’s deputy near Springfield, Illinois. Massey, a mother, had called for help thinking there was an intruder in her home. In the wake of the killing, Massey’s family revealed that she had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and drew attention to the disproportionate police violence inflicted on Black people and disabled people—compounded further for Black disabled people and those struggling with mental health.

Graphic body camera footage shows Illinois Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson asking Massey to remove a pot of boiling water from her stove, which she did, and then shooting her in the face. Grayson also refused to issue immediate help as Massey lay dying. Grayson was fired and has been charged with three counts of first degree murder. In a separate incident, Massey’s 4-year-old cousin Terrell Miller had also been killed by Illinois police in March. Prosecutors refused to charge the officer.

Cat Brooks, an organizer, activist, performer, and host of the radio program Law and Disorder on KPFA Pacifica Radio in Berkeley, organized a vigil in Oakland for Sonya Massey on July 28. She is the cofounder and executive director of the Anti Police-Terror Project, where she was instrumental in the formation of MH First Oakland, a non-police alternative for people experiencing mental health crises. Brooks spoke with YES! Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on YES! Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about Massey’s killing.

Sonali Kolhatkar joined YES! in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of YES! Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent Media Institute’s Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice (2023) and Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence (2005). Her forthcoming book is called Talking About Abolition (Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women’s Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master’s in Astronomy from the University of Hawai’i, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on “My Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host” in her 2014 TEDx talk of the same name.