The Danger of Playing Politics with Police Shootings

Another day, another egregious and unwarranted police shooting of a black American… or at least that’s what the liberal left and the mainstream media would have you to believe.

The details are still coming out about the shooting of Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old mother of two who was killed in her own kitchen by Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson of Sangamon County, Illinois. Reportedly, Ms. Massey had called 911 to report a possible intruder in her Springfield home on July 6th. Thirty minutes later, she was dead.

The bodycam that Deputy Grayson was wearing doesn’t tell the whole story. It simply shows Massey holding a pot of boiling water while Deputy Grayson is heard warning her, “You better not or I swear to God, I’ll shoot you in the face.”

Why Ms. Massey had removed the pot from the stove and what she planned to do with it is uncertain. I assume Deputy Grayson felt threatened by her actions, which is why he issued the warning… and then opened fire.

Deputy Grayson was terminated after the event, but his union has filed a complaint, claiming he was fired “without just cause.” Hopefully, the truth will come out and justice will be served. Either Deputy Grayson felt threatened and fired in self defense or he acted inappropriately and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

It will take time to determine the facts of the case, which is why politicians, pastors, and pundits should refrain from jumping to conclusions to advance their own agendas. “Sonya Massey deserved to be safe,” Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters, adding that she and her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, were “grieving her senseless death.”

That’s not very helpful nor is it very responsible, Ms. Harris, because we don’t know all the details of the shooting. Certainly, as a former prosecutor, district attorney, and attorney general, you understand how dangerous it is for anyone – let alone the vice president of the United States and a candidate for the presidency – to rush to judgment in such a case. However, in this instance, there were political points to be made and so, Ms. Harris threw her law enforcement background out the window in favor of scoring a few headlines and swaying a few voters with her intentionally inflammatory comments.

The truth of the matter is that although the trend of fatal police shootings in the United States has increased from 981 in 2017 to 1,163 in 2023, the majority of the victims were white. In 2024 to date, just 98 (21%) of the 469 civilians who have been shot by police were black.

With black Americans comprising roughly 12% of the general population, it is easy to claim that some of those shootings were racially motivated. However, it would also be intellectually dishonest to make that assertion because, according to the FBI and the Bureau of Justice Statistics, black Americans commit a disproportionate number of all violent crimes.

For instance, there were 461,540 violent crimes committed in 2020: 274,280 (59%) by white Americans and 167,030 (36%) by black Americans. That means that black Americans account for three times more violent crimes than their percentage of the general population.

Statistics don’t lie, but politicians running for office often do and sadly, their lies continue to fan the flames of racial division that are tearing our country apart. It is far better to remain silent and reserve judgment until all the facts are known than to add fuel to the racial fires that are burning down our inner cities and our nation as a whole.

Meanwhile, law enforcement officers – the vast majority of whom are both competent and courageous – are being unfairly demonized by the media and the masses. It is no wonder why many jurisdictions are finding it difficult to recruit enough officers to fill their ranks… and that is what should trouble law-abiding Americans across every race and ethnicity.