EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK: Sonya Massey, and everyone else, should still be alive

Featured photo: Protesters raise their fists at a Fred Cox Jr. rally in High Point. (photo by Carolyn de Berry)

Sonya Massey should still be alive;

she held a pot of water and called out for Jesus;

she was 36 years young. 

Marcus Deon Smith should still be alive;

he called for help, “Please, help me sir,” he said;

he was 38 years young. 

John Neville should still be alive;

he struggled on the ground and gasped, “I can’t breathe,” five months and three weeks before George Floyd did too;

he was 56 years young. 

Fred Cox Jr. should still be alive;

he ran towards a church, sheltering others as he fled;

he was 18 years young. 

Joseph Lopez Jr. should still be alive;

he was emerging unarmed from a shed; “I’m coming, I’m coming,” he said;

he was 29 years young. 

Nasanto Crenshaw should still be alive;

he sat in the driver’s seat, turning the steering wheel;

he was 17 years young. 

Graham Roberson should still be alive;

he held a BB gun and a toy gun;

he was 51 years young. 

Ernesto Ruiz should still be alive;

he wielded a machete, not a gun;

he was 41 years young. 

Gerald Pinckney should still be alive;

he suffered from PTSD and called the police on himself;

he was 31 years young. 

Titus Kopp should still be alive;

he had a knife and was threatening suicide;

he was 28 years young. 

The average lifespan in the US is 76 years old;

combined, the police have stolen 415 years of their lives;

their motto is to “protect and serve;”

but we know now that is a lie.