The death of Sonya Massey inspired an almost silent demonstration at Pearson Park in Anaheim on July 31. Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman, was shot and killed in her home by Deputy Sean Grayson of the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office in Woodside Township near Springfield, Illinois. 

Massey had called the police for help with what she thought was a prowler, but the situation turned fatal when responding deputies asked her to turn off her stove, where a pot of water was boiling. Deputy Grayson claimed he feared that Massey would throw the pot at him. The internal affairs report by the Sangamon County Sheriff’s office stated that “body camera video shows that the unnecessary escalation of force led to Deputy Grayson shooting Massey in the head,” despite her “non-aggressive behavior.”

Grayson was immediately terminated, and a Grand Jury accused him of three counts of first-degree murder, along with one count each of aggravated battery with a weapon and official misconduct.

The gathering in Anaheim was organized by the non-profits OC Justice Initiative and the So Cal chapter of Dare to Struggle. Dr. Shandell Maxwell and their daughter Amadi Dill attended the event. Amadi presented a rose to a woman named Yvonne, a relative of Alejandro Campos Rios, a 50-year-old man who died after bean bag rounds fired at him by Fullerton police officers killed him in the early morning hours of March 2024. 

During the Pearson Park demonstration, Cassidy Villegas and Gillian Fleming joined others in front of the amphitheater entrance to light candles and participate in a Native American ritual of pouring water to nourish the land.

“It was important for us to be here because it’s the least we can do as American citizens, as human beings,” said Villegas. “My fear is that people are getting desensitized to police violence,” said Fleming. “It’s a systemic issue. The video in the Sonya Massey case showed a deliberate intent on the part of the officer.”

Former Deputy Grayson has pleaded Not Guilty to the charges.

Racial disparities in Law Enforcement persist, according to a Public Policy Institute of California report. Key takeaways include:

• Black Californians are more than twice as likely to be searched as white Californians, at about 20 percent versus 8 percent of all stops. 
• Searches of Black civilians are somewhat less likely to yield contraband and evidence than searches of white civilians. Overall, searches yielded contraband or evidence in about one-fifth of all searches. 
• Black people are overrepresented in stops not leading to enforcement—defined as an officer declining to issue even a warning—as well as in stops leading to an arrest. 
• Black individuals are almost twice as likely to be booked into jail as white individuals.
• While differences in locale and context for the stop—such as when an officer has knowledge of an outstanding warrant—significantly contribute to racial disparities, notable inequities remain after accounting for such factors.