Andiel Brown, managing director for NAACP Lane County 1119 unit, marches down Oak Street. holding a sign saying "I rebuke in the name of Jesus," some of Sonya Massey's last words. Photo by Bentley Freeman

‘That Could Have Been One of Them’ 

NAACP Lane County 1119 Unit hosts a vigil for Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman murdered by sheriff’s deputies in her own home near Springfield, Illinois

EW-Extra by Bentley FreemanPosted on

On July 25, NAACP Lane County held a candlelight vigil and march for Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman and mother of two murdered in her home by sheriff’s deputies near Springfield, Illinois.

Around 50 people, including representatives from the NAACP and the Black Cultural Initiative marched around several blocks downtown near Kesey Square, voicing their rage, anger, concern and discontent. 

“This Black woman is angry as hell,” said Mary Gach to the crowd in Kesey Square. “In a world where the color of one’s skin — their melanin — is reason enough to kill you.”

Another speaker, Black woman and first-grade teacher, said that Black women, ages 25 to 44, in the United States are six times more likely to be killed with firearms than white women. She said of Massey, “She apologized. She was shot. She died.”

After a moment of silence, with many holding light candles in respect for Massey, the crowd marched down West Broadway and all around downtown chanting “Say her name!” followed by “Sonya Massey!”

Andiel Brown, NAACP Lane County Branch 1119 managing director, says that anti-Black violence is woven into American history. “If we look at 75 years ago here, we see the hostility that caused the uprooting of lives,” he says. “And then we look across the country today, 75 years later, and we see the taking of lives.”

“None of them had a choice,” he says.

Adam Gilliam said he’s dealt with these feelings his whole life. “I’m 50 years old. I’ve dealt with racist society, my whole life being the product of a Black woman, having Black sisters, aunties,” he says.

“That could have been one of them,” Gilliam said.

Gach, a recent UO human physiology graduate who spoke during the vigil and participated in the march, said that America has become too comfortable with cyclical, systemic racial violence. “People acknowledge this sucks and stuff like that. And then they go back to where they’re most comfortable,” she said.

With recent conversations surrounding racial history in Eugene, Brown says it’s important to have uncomfortable dialogues in order to make Black people more comfortable. “​​They have to now do the opposite, prove it to be hospitable so that they feel comfortable coming back,” he says.

“And that’s what it’s gonna take,” he adds.