Originally published by The 19th
Sonya Massey should be alive today. That is the message ricocheting across the internet as the killing of Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman and mother, by a White sheriff’s deputy in Illinois gains national attention from President Joe Biden, advocates and celebrities following the release of police body camera footage on Monday.
Massey was shot on July 6 while handling a pot of hot water in her kitchen by a sheriff’s deputy standing several feet away from her in the living room. Her killing happened a week before the nine-year anniversary of Sandra Bland’s death, which elevated the #SayHerName movement’s push to raise awareness about Black women victims of police brutality....