By Lawrence Hamm
Photos: YouTube Screenshots
A march and rally to demand justice for Sonya Massey, will be held on Sunday, July 28, 2024, 2:00pm, starting at the Lincoln Statue, 12 Springfield Avenue in Newark, New Jersey.
On July 6, 2024, Sonya Massey, an unarmed 36 year-old Black mother of two, was shot in the face and killed by a Sangamon County deputy sheriff in her home in Springfield, Illinois.
The protest on Sunday is sponsored by the People’s Organization For Progress (POP) and co-sponsored by the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations Study Group, Newark Communities for Accountable Policing, All Politics Are Local and other groups.
Sunday’s demonstration is part of a larger effort to bring public attention to the killing of Sonya Massey. Earlier this week Until Freedom, put out a call for a national day of mourning on Sunday for Sonya Massey. It urged groups in cities across the U.S. to hold events to demand justice for Massey.
“We heard the call for action and decided to have an event to demand justice Sonya Massey. What happened to her is an abomination. We should rise up for her the way we did for George Floyd and Breonna Taylor,” Lawrence Hamm, Chairman, People’s Organization For Progress stated.
Until Freedom is a national intersectional social justice organization that addresses systemic racial injustice. Its co-founder is Tamika Mallory, a national recognized organizer, activist, and writer.
Sean Grayson, a white police officer, shot Massey in the face three times when he killed her. He has been fired from his job and charged with murder. It has been revealed that he held jobs with six different police departments in the last four years.
“Police brutality in this country is out of control. The police have killed more people, not less, since the murder of George Floyd. In fact the police killed more people last year than in any year since they started keeping records,” Hamm said.
Hamm who was a U.S. Senate candidate in last month’s New Jersey Democratic primary said that he will call for the passage by Congress of the George Floyd Justice In Policing Act of 2024 introduced by Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee who died recently.
He will also call upon the New Jersey State Legislature to pass bills that will enable municipalities to establish police review boards with subpoena powers.
POP plans to march from the Lincoln Statue to the intersection of Broad and Market Streets in the heart of downtown Newark where a rally will be held. Speakers at the rally will include family members of recent victims of police brutality, community leaders, activists, and elected officials.
For more information call the People’s Organization For Progress at (973)801-0001.
