Sofia D. | Red Phoenix correspondent | Virginia–

On July 6, Deputy Sean Grayson shot Sonya Massey, 36, in the face three times while responding to her call to 911. Sonya Massey had called to report a possible intruder. As the sheriffs arrived, Massey was heating a pot of water on the stove. Grayson told her to put down the pot, she complied, and then she ducked behind a counter with her hands up, apologizing. Grayson immediately drew his gun, and as she ducked, opened fire three times, hitting her in the face. What would have been read by a social worker as a situation where someone was scared and confused, was instead read by the police as a threat, and because of that, Sonya Massey has been taken from her family and community.

This story is not at all out of the ordinary for the American police force, which bears the features and legacy of the slave patrols out of which it developed: fire at will, do not hesitate to brutalize anyone who makes you feel “threatened,” and take extra care to be especially cruel and callous to Black, Latino, and Indigenous workers.

The police do all this to stem the flow of “social disorder,” whether that means robbery, erratic behavior, or revolutionary activity – natural consequences of capitalist exploitation and cyclical crises. Capitalists cannot solve the problems their system necessitates, so they sic feral dogs upon the working class to terrorize them and keep them in line.

Moreover, the American police system, like the Russian tsarist police system and many others before it, inculcates their polices force to be sadistic great-nation chauvinists, always reserving their worst and most animalistic behavior for the non-white “races.” This gives the capitalist class an even more brutalized and desperate stratum to prey on, and helps promulgate a racist mythology which justifies the existence of Capitalism. 

The racist and capitalist institution of American police must be scoured off the face of the earth, and its vile and pulsing core of capital must be plunged into the mists of history.

As a temporary measure, the active and advanced section of the working class must organize to resist and push back the open flow of police violence with a demand of community control over the police.

Ultimately, the multi-national, multi-ethnic working class must militantly organize to seize political power for itself in a moment of crisis for the Capitalist system, and address social problems by solving their social causes: the conditions of production. 

Sonya Massey is a victim of Capitalism and Great Nation Chauvinism.

Demand justice! Demand an end to capitalism and racism! Say her name!

Categories: Police Brutality, U.S. News