Some degree of belated, if not entirely total, justice prevailed on October 29th when former officer Sean Grayson, who shot and murdered Sonya Massey was found guilty of second-degree murder. The verdict, which the Massey family referred to as “providing some measure” of justice for Sonya, is yet another unyielding reminder of the horrors of police brutality in America. While it is indeed reassuring that Grayson was been found liable for his misdeeds, the truth remains that the intersection of police brutality and racism are far too commonplace in American law enforcement.

On July 6, 2024, Bodycam footage revealed that Grayson, a 30-year-old member of the force, ordered her to her kitchen to turn off a pot of boiling water which she was in the process of doing. Rather than attempt to de-escalate the situation, Officer Grayson escalated things by increasingly screaming, spewing a tirade of profanity-laced threats, eventually shot her in the face. Grayson shot her at close range as she ducked behind a counter saying she was sorry. In fact, the first thing she uttered when the officers arrived at her residence was “please don’t hurt me” and amplifying his voice. Undoubtedly, such a situation likely resulted in confusing, if not outright unnerving, Ms. Massey.

Admittedly, upon witnessing initial footage, my heart almost froze and my ears cringed as I saw and heard him ruthlessly pump six bullets into her petite body. He murdered her as she was holding her pot. Afterwards, he informed other law enforcement officials that he feared her. As I (and probably safe to say, many people) saw it, it was incredulous that a 6’8”, 235-pound man would or could view a 5’4”, 125-pound unarmed woman as a physical threat! In fact, he probably looked like a giant to her! It was evident that he did not view her as fully human. Both immediately after the murder and during the trial, police department records revealed that Sean Grayson engaged in a history of misconduct. This begs the question as to why he was not previously disciplined for his irresponsible antics.

What was notable is how members of Massey’s family responded to the verdict. Understandably disappointed with the failure to secure a first-degree murder charge, they did not hesitate to publicly openly espouse their displeasure. There was no foreword of attorneys issuing statements of gratitude on behalf of the family, or a routine litany of various appreciative commentary bestowed upon the usual legal institutions that were negligent in protecting their child. Rather, Donna Massey looked directly into the camera and responded, “I can’t wait until he goes to hell.” Indeed, she said so without missing a beat! No doubt such a piercing, unapologetic, take-no-prisoners response was nothing short of both shocking and revelatory to many individuals across racial lines.

By voicing such understandable outrage, she, in essence, redefined as well as rewrote the standard narrative of how Black people (many Black people) have responded whenever addressing pervasive and piercing grief. To quote Dr Stacey Patton “In this country, Black mothers are expected to cry, to forgive, to turn the other cheek so America can feel good about itself again. Their pain becomes a kind of moral currency and proof that they are still decent, still human, still capable of love in a system built to crush them.” … America loves the spectacle of the forgiving Black mother because it restores its sense of moral order. It lets white folks cry, nod, and feel redeemed without changing a damn thing. But this mother refused to baptize the system that murdered her child. Her words cut against centuries of expectation, against every news segment that praises “grace under pressure.” Every single word spoken here is the truth.

Additionally, such commentary is unsettling to some who witnessed such verbiage due to the fact that such unyielding rhetoric dispels the traditional biblical tenets that no matter how angry or enraged one is, true, genuine Christianity requires that one conceal, or at the very least, minimize their outrage, regardless of how human or justified.

The undeniable reality is that, since stepping foot on the shores of America, Black lives and bodies have been routinely scrutinized, objectified, sexualized, and racialized. For many in our society, Black bodies and Black people - children as well as adults - have never been seen as fully human. All too often, we have been seen as men and women who are largely primitive and invisible, denied any degree of humane acknowledgment from mainstream society.

The truth is that Sean Grayson is just a microcosm of the larger issue of violence against Black bodies and by extension, Black people. The death of Black Americans at the hands of law enforcement has become so commonplace and routine that many of us who are Black have managed to become simultaneously outraged and psychologically numbed. Over the past several years, we have become front row spectators to grainy, and in some cases, graphic footage of police officers engaged in horrific levels of violent behavior toward people of African descent.

While it is unclear what the sentence for Grayson will be, the sad reality remains that the Massey family lost a loved one in an act of senseless violence that shouldn’t have happened. Sean Grayson’s unhinged decisions that night needlessly escalated a tense situation, and the fact that he was the only officer who fired his weapon demonstrates that tragic fact. Grayson should never have been hired, especially after his own evaluation revealed that he sometimes tended to jump to conclusions. While the conviction is a step in the right direction, America has a long way to go if it is expecting the people to trust the police to handle such mental health episodes responsibly and safely. Sean Grayson is a cold-blooded killer who should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and never see the light of day again!

One has to ask whether the average White person is likely to be the victim of such random violence by police officers. The answer is absolutely not! The fact is that if White people, particularly middle- and upper-income White people, were routinely and randomly subjected to police violence and being gunned down in the street by law enforcement at the same rate as Black and non-White Hispanic people, there would be calls for congressional hearings and massive demonstrations. Cries of protest would reverberate so loudly and fiercely that it would result in political suicide for any politician or police force that dared to ignore them. The same social outrage must become a reality for people of color as well.