The Leadership Conference Statement on the Killing of Sonya Massey

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Rachel Hooper, [email protected]

WASHINGTON — Maya Wiley, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, released the following statement:

“Sonya Massey should be alive today. When she called for help, an officer killed her instead of helping her. We have seen this play out time and time again. American policing is killing us. It is robbing our communities of their future. And it is stealing life from people who should be here to hold their children today. We must rethink our approach to policing, hold police accountable when they use excessive force, and invest in proactive, root-cause prevention strategies. We need unarmed first responders who are trained to work with people who are experiencing crisis, an approach that has been working in many communities around the country. Force and criminalization are not going to make us safer. It didn’t make Sonya safer. We don’t have to keep losing people to police violence. We can rethink the response. We can promote alternatives so that people who call for help receive the right service at the right time. We can and must fund prevention and invest in communities.”

The Leadership Conference’s Vision for Justice platform expands our shared view of public safety and prioritizes community-centered and prevention-oriented investments outside of the criminal-legal system. Learn more at VisionForJustice.org.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 240 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

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