In the year 2023, an estimated 1,352 people were killed by police in the United States, meaning that 3 or 4 people were killed daily on average. Police killings took place in all but 13 days in that year, and 2024 does not look any better, with 760 people , 182 of them Black , killed through July 17, 2024.
These dismal statistics must be at the forefront of our thinking as we contemplate the killing of Sonya Massey by Springfield, Illinois police on July 6, 2024. Officer Sean Grayson killed Massey but his partner kept his body camera running during the encounter and fatal shooting. Now millions of people have seen that a woman who suffered from a psychological condition was shot by the police after she called them for help.
According to her family Massey drove herself to a local hospital for mental health care in the days prior to her killing and on July 5 officers made several visits to her home. The next day she called to report an intruder. Despite clearly being under mental duress, officer Sean Grayson shot her in the face, three times.
There are vigils, protests, and a variety of actions for Sonya Massey taking place all over the country. Rebellions have been forestalled by the arrest and first-degree murder charge lodged against Grayson. Yet that lack of action is problematic. Massey certainly deserves our attention and our protest, but ironically the existence of video footage turns us into voyeurs subjected to trauma with little or no benefit to past or future victims. How many police snuff films must we see before taking any meaningful action?
It must be pointed out that police........