Sonya Massey, killed by police after asking for their help, deserved better | Tayo Bero

Breathless calls for justice and reform – even when they come from the highest office in the land – feel stale and hollow

The police killing of Sonya Massey, the 36-year-old Black woman who was shot in the face by a white sheriff’s deputy in her own home after she called for help reporting a prowler, is just the latest episode of the hellish TV show that is Black life in America.

And if you’ve been paying attention, the script is often the same: person calls cops for help, cops go into their house, cops shoot them, cops lie about what happened, cops get off (relatively) scot-free.

Tayo Bero is a Guardian US columnist