Sonya Massey Is This Election Cycle’s George Floyd (2024)

Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson and Sonya Massey about one minute before he shot and killed her. Source: Illinois State Police

Nearly two weeks ago after surviving an attempt on his life, it appeared as if Donald Trump had sewn up November’s election.

Then, on Sunday night, Joe Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed the cackling biracial knob-gobbler Kamala Harris as his replacement.

On Monday, Illinois State Police released bodycam footage of a white male officer shooting a mentally ill black woman dead in her home. The shooting had occurred back on July 6, but in politics, timing is everything.

The black woman, 36-year-old Sonya Massey, was a mother of two, but she apparently lived alone in a dingy, cluttered house in Woodside Township near Springfield, Illinois. Shortly after midnight on July 6, Massey dialed 911, saying she feared there was a prowler outside her house.

To the sonic backdrop of buzzing summertime insects and what is either fireworks or gunshots in the distance, two white male deputies from the Sangamon Sheriff’s Office arrived and searched the premises surrounding Massey’s house. The only suspicious thing they found was a black car parked in the driveway with two smashed windows.

Deputy Sean Grayson knocked on Massey’s door for three minutes. At one point before opening the door, Massey screamed something unintelligible at them, but I could make out the word “f*ck.” After Grayson explained that he was from the Sheriff’s Department and that she’d called them, Massey, wearing a nightgown, opened the door, mumbled something about God, and explained that she had needed to get dressed. Right from the start, Massey appeared to be so out of it that Grayson asked her, “Doing all right mentally?”

Once inside the house — which revealed Massey to be a slovenly hoarder — Grayson calmly asked Massey simple questions such as whether she owned the car in the driveway. She said she did not. When quizzed about whether she’d been aware of any damage to the car, she muttered something about a dent. When asked about the smashed windows, she said that had happened “earlier.”

Massey, who has her face buried in her smartphone for most of the interview, is evasive throughout. She even paused to reflect when Grayson asked for her last name, which leads an obviously frustrated Grayson to say, “Shouldn’t have to think about your last name.”

When Grayson notices there’s a pot of boiling water on Massey’s stove, he points at it and says, “We don’t need a fire while we’re here.” Massey gets up from the couch, walks toward the stove, grabs two potholders, and lifts the pot of boiling water. When she notices the cops flinching at the sight of her holding the pot, the following dialogue ensues:

SONYA MASSEY: Where are you going?

SEAN GRAYSON: Away from your hot, steaming water.

SONYA MASSEY: Away from my hot, steaming water?

SEAN GRAYSON: Yeah.

SONYA MASSEY: Ah, I rebuke you in the name of Jesus. I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.

SEAN GRAYSON: You better f*ckin’ not. I swear to God, I’ll f*ckin’ shoot you right in your f*ckin’ face. [draws his gun and points it at Massey]

SONYA MASSEY: Okay, I’m sorry.

SEAN GRAYSON: Drop the f*ckin’ pot! Drop the f*ckin’ pot! Drop — [fires three shots at Massey]

Grayson’s unidentified partner says he’s going to get his First Aid kit, but Grayson says, “She’s done. You can go get it, but that’s a head shot.”

Seconds later, Grayson tells his partner, “Dude, I’m not taking f*cking boiling water to the f*ckin’ head — and look, it f*cking came right to our feet, too. Goddamn it.”

The 36-minute bodycam video the Illinois State police released on Monday features footage from both officers at the scene. Sean Grayson’s video doesn’t start until 28:07. The shooting doesn’t happen until about 28:21, but slowed-down video clearly shows Massey flinging whatever was in the pot toward the officers.

Historical precedent might justify fearing the sight of a black woman holding a pot of hot water. Consider the following headlines:

• WOMAN THROWS BOILING WATER IN BOSS’ FACE AFTER FIRING
• Girl who burned other girl in “hot water challenge” sentenced to probation
• APD: Woman pours boiling water on boyfriend, injures child
• Hamilton Co. woman charged with assault for allegedly pouring boiling water on ex-boyfriend
• AUGUSTA WOMAN THROWS BOILING WATER AT HUSBAND
• Suburban woman receives 10 years after pouring boiling water on sleeping boyfriend

Sometimes, it’s more than hot water. In 1974, soul singer Al Green’s former lover Mary Woodson tossed “a pot of hot grits” on his naked back, fled the bathroom, and shot herself dead in another room. VICE magazine did a whole daffy article about how black women tossing hot grits on their cheating men is “often a tool of women’s rage and domestic warfare.”

The rich lore black of women tossing hot, boiling substances at others has led to the colloquialism “nigg*r Napalm.”

But just like George Floyd resisting arrest after using a counterfeit bill while high on fentanyl was excised from all the major accounts that led to rioting in the summer of 2020, the same thing is already happening with official accounts about what happened to Sonya Massey.

Only a day after announcing he was withdrawing from the presidential race — and the same day that the Grayson/Massey bodycam footage was released — alleged Chief Executive Joe Biden emerged from his crypt to issue an official statement about the shooting:

Sonya Massey, a beloved mother, friend, daughter, and young Black [sic] woman, should be alive today. Sonya called the police because she was concerned about a potential intruder. . . . Sonya’s death at the hands of a responding officer reminds us that all too often Black [sic] Americans face fears for their safety in ways many of the rest of us do not. . . . While we wait for the case to be prosecuted, let us pray to comfort the grieving. Congress must pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act now. Our fundamental commitment to justice is at stake.

On Tuesday, Kamala Harris released her own statement:

Sonya Massey deserved to be safe. After she called the police for help, she was tragically killed in her own home at the hands of a responding officer sworn to protect and serve. . . . The disturbing footage released yesterday confirms what we know from the lived experiences of so many — we have much work to do to ensure that our justice system fully lives up to its name. . . . I join President Biden in commending the swift action of the State’s Attorney’s Office and in calling on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a bill that I coauthored in the Senate. . . .

Black lawyer Ben Crump — who has made a name for himself riding black coffins as if they were motorcycles and can now add Massey’s family to his client list along with the families of Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown, Ahmaud Arbery, Tyre Nichols, and George Floyd — burped out the following:

This is the worst police shooting video ever. . . . She needed a helping hand. She did not need a bullet to her face. . . . I know it’s hard for some people to even fathom it, but it’s a reality for most people of color, especially black people in America. We think about this every day that but by the grace of God, it could be your mama next or your daughter or your son.

Sean Grayson, who has a checkered history as a police officer and a record of driving under the influence convictions, has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Expect him to get the full Derek Chauvin treatment from both the law and other inmates.

Grayson shot and killed Sonya Massey about 200 miles south of Chicago, where the Democratic National Convention will be held next month. Expect her corpse to be used as a prop throughout the convention. She might even be the star of the show.