Sonya Massey said, ‘I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.’ What’s the significance?
Malachi Hill Massey, 17, center, speaks at a news conference on July 23 at the NAACP headquarters in Springfiled, Illinois, about his mother, Sonya Massey, who was shot to death by a Sangamon County Sheriff's deputy on July 6 after calling 911 for help. On the left is civil attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the Massey family. On the right is Sonya Massey's daughter, Jeanette Summer Massey, 15. (AP Photo/John O'Connor)
As video footage of the fatal police shooting of Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman who lived in Springfield, Illinois, circulates online, many viewers are memorializing her near-final words: “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”
Massey initially called 911 from her home on July 6, citing concerns of an intruder. The body-camera footage, which was released July 22 by the Illinois State Police, shows sheriff’s deputy Sean Grayson shooting Massey in the head following a brief exchange over a pot of hot water. Grayson has since been fired and charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery, and official misconduct, and the US Department of Justice has opened an investigation into Massey’s death.
According to some faith leaders and scholars, Massey’s near-last words, spoken twice in an even voice to the deputies before her death, carry a spiritual and cultural weight specific to Black church communities.
