BIG MAMA SAID: We Must Sing a Song for Sonya

By Terry Allen

In America, our credit score follows us everywhere. It determines where we live, what car we drive, and even the job we can land.

A few missed payments, and suddenly doors start closing. But what about those whose job performance literally holds life or death in the balance?

Police officers who kill innocent people don’t have a national bureau tracking their misdeeds. No rating system follows them from job to job, warning of the danger they pose to the public. And that’s the tragedy.

Take the case of Sean Grayson, a man who shouldn’t have been wearing a badge. Discharged from the Army for a serious offense, racking up DUIs, and hopping between police agencies like a bad penny—his history was littered with red flags. Yet, there was no system to stop him from finding another uniform to wear. On July 6, 2024, Grayson murdered Sonya Massey. Could her life have been saved if someone had taken his history seriously?

The lack of accountability is staggering. Derek Chauvin had a history of violent behavior before he killed George Floyd. Miles Cosgrove, who shot Breonna Taylor, got a new police job in 2023. And Timothy Loehmann, who killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice, resigned from his third police job just this year. How do these officers keep finding work? Where’s the oversight that prevents bad cops from continuing to harm the very communities they’re supposed to protect?

In a nation where credit scores are a gatekeeper to opportunity, why do we not hold those with the power to take lives to an even higher standard? If a national bureau tracked police misconduct as diligently as it tracks our credit, perhaps lives like Sonya Massey’s wouldn’t be lost in vain.

Big Mama said it’s time to hold every life as precious and every job, especially those that come with a gun and badge, to the highest standard. Because unlike credit scores, some mistakes can’t be undone.

Please email me and tell me what you would like to to do at Terryallenpr@gmail.com.

Terry Allen is an NABJ award-winning Journalist, DEI expert, PR professional, and founder of the charity – Vice President at FocusPR, Founder of City Men Cook, and Dallas Chapter President of NBPRS.org