On Saturday, July 6, 2024 in the late hours of around 12:50 a.m., Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old African woman who resided in Woodside Township, Illinois was murdered in her home via an altercation with deputy Sean Grayson.
Massey, who was grappling with a mental health crisis at the time, dialed 911 and reported a potential intruder, believing that there was a trespasser lurking in her home.
Upon arrival, officers Sean Grayson and Dawson Farley (who was unidentified at the time) found no intruder in her home, and then proceeded to state that they wanted to see her ID, and she began looking for it.
The interaction with the officers quickly escalated when Massey walked over to a pot of hot boiling water on the stove and was then shot by Grayson, who later testified that he perceived the boiling pot to pose a threat, believing that Massey had intentions of burning him.
Massey, whose last words were, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” died from gunshot wounds to her head following Grayson’s firing of three shots.
It had only been a day earlier that her mother, Donna, also called 911 to report that while she was in fact experiencing a mental breakdown, she was not a danger to herself or others.
To the relief of many members of the African community, on October 29, 2025 Officer Grayson was found guilty of second-degree murder.
While many believe that this is one of the few times where justice has been served for Africans, in a world where colonialism reigns as the judge, jury, and executioner, simply imprisoning a killer cop nearly acts as a bandaid while producing no real remedy.
According to data from 2025, 11.8 percent of African adults reported a mental health crisis which required assistance in the last year.
Furthermore, ongoing issues of socioeconomic disparities and police violence (better known as symptoms of colonialism) have also been reported as primary factors when it comes to higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the African community.
This is not only a serious indicator of the need for an African-led revolution in which colonialism and its institutions are crushed, but also the need for us to build what Chairman Omali Yeshitela refers to as “dual and contending power.
Sonya Massey’s life may have been saved if a community-led response system had been an option instead of police.
The fight to build self-determination is not something we in the African People’s Socialist Party are looking to do simply to “feel good” and to say we have created something, but to literally save lives, because we know that we will never truly be safe under the hands of a system controlled by white power.
Placed in the hands of those who had her best interest, such a cry for help should be addressed with caution, care, and healing, not bullets.
