When my mother passed peacefully in her sleep at her Baltimore home in July 2006, a hospice facility advised me to call the police. Two police officers arrived. One said that he intended to call the morgue to arrange for her transport. When I cried uncontrollably at the thought of my mother lying in a morgue, the police officer said he’d arrest me if I didn’t stop. I had done nothing wrong. Despite the fact that I was a former Baltimore prosecutor and Maryland assistant attorney general, as a Black woman, I feared for my safety and life.
So what happened July 6 to Sonya Massey, who is also a Black woman, is heartbreaking and horrifying, but nothing new in our country.
Massey, a 36-year-old mother, called 911 for help as she suspected a prowler at her Springfield, Ill., home. Two law enforcement officers arrived, including Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson, who is white. Police body cam video shows Massey said, “Don’t hurt me,” when she opened the door. The two officers searched but found no intruder.
As the officers completed paperwork, Sonya Massey walked to the kitchen away from the officers to remove a pot of boiling water on the stove. When she uttered the words “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” Grayson drew his gun and demanded that Massey drop the pot or else he’d shoot her in the face. She apologized, ducked and raised her hands. Grayson fired three times, fatally shooting her in the face. A grand jury indicted Grayson on first-degree murder and other crimes.
In the United States, on average, police fatally shoot more than 1,000 people each year. Police shoot and kill Black people at more than twice the rate of white people.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ first presidential campaign ad had “freedom” as her theme and featured Beyoncé’s song “Freedom.” Harris asks in the ad, “What kind of country do we want to live in?” My answer? I want to live in a country where police stop murdering or brutalizing Black Americans.
The federal government must take stronger action to protect the lives of Black Americans from police brutality. Increased federal investigations of law enforcement departments for civil rights violations, court-ordered consent decrees, passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, and ending qualified immunity are just a few of the ways to take stronger action.
Following high-profile police killings such as ones that occurred in Baltimore (Freddie Gray) and other cities, the Department of Justice conducted civil rights investigations of local police departments and entered consent decrees to require remedial action. Since the 1990s, the DOJ has entered into over 30 consent decrees that take action to remedy civil rights violations in policing. But consent decrees are not enough by themselves.
Passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act would add more weight to existing laws. It would establish a national registry of police misconduct, eliminate qualified immunity and no-knock warrants, ban chokeholds and require that deadly force only be used as a last resort. A national registry would track an officer’s prior bad acts and presumably prevent that officer from joining another police department. Elimination of qualified immunity would mean that individuals harmed as a result of civil rights violations by an officer would be able to sue in civil court for a monetary award against the officer.
Opponents of this last move say that qualified immunity for police is necessary, that they need the protection of this legal doctrine because they must make split-second decisions on a routine basis. Without it, they say, with the threat of lawsuits for making a wrong move, police will hesitate to take needed actions to protect the community. Maryland’s legislature has rejected efforts to end qualified immunity.
But this legal shield has kept too many police from accountability for the use of excessive force against defenseless citizens. In effect, immunity rewards bad police behavior. No wonder so many innocent civilians die at the hands of police. And no wonder Black Americans — even me, a former prosecutor and a lawyer — have occasion to fear law enforcement.
Black Americans must feel safe and free in their homes and on the streets. It is time for Harris, Governor Tim Walz and the Democratic Party to address freedom for Black Americans for one simple reason: Freedom requires that all of us are free.
Debbie Hines (debbie@legalspeaks.com) is a trial lawyer, former Baltimore prosecutor and Maryland assistant attorney general and author of “Get Off My Neck: Black Lives, White Justice and a Former Prosecutor’s Quest for Reform” (MIT, 2024).