The Rev. T. Ray McJunkins says he will always back the Massey
Commission, but the panel’s work to reduce racial divisions and restore trust
in the police will go on without him as a cochair. He resigned the unpaid,
volunteer post amid calls for his departure after a 24-year-old female former staff
member of Faith Coalition for the Common Good alleged McJunkins groped her in
February 2023.
McJunkins,
61, lead pastor of Union Baptist Church, 1405 E. Monroe St., one of the oldest
Black churches in Springfield, confirmed the resignation to Illinois Times on Sept. 26. He has denied Shafer’s allegations.
Appointed one of the commission’s three
cochairs in mid-August, he declined further comment about allegations lodged by
Emma Shafer before her death in July 2023. McJunkins would only say, “I’m done
with this.”
McJunkins addressed
Shafer’s allegations in an Illinois Times
story published online Sept. 23. Three days later, Sangamon County Board
Chairperson Andy Van Meter, a Republican, and state Sen. Doris Turner,
D-Springfield – the pair who first appointed McJunkins and the other two
cochairs to the commission – announced the appointment of two new cochairs.
Springfield
resident JoAnn Johnson, a retired Illinois State Police officer and the first
African American woman to reach the rank of colonel at ISP, will replace
cochair Nina Harris, a former Springfield Urban League president and chief
executive officer, according to county government spokesperson Jeff Wilhite.
And Shadia
Massey, cousin of Sonya Massey, the 36-year-old Black woman killed in a
police-involved shooting in her Woodside Township home on July 6 and for whom
the commission is named, will replace McJunkins, Wilhite said.
Harris said
in a news release that she has completed her time commitment to the commission.
“My intention was always to
volunteer and be present for the construction phase of the commission,” she
said. “I’m proud of our work so far, and I’m grateful to Shadia and JoAnn for
answering the call to lead.”
Two members of the public
criticized McJunkins at the commission’s first “listening session” on Sept. 16
for what they described as allegations by multiple women that McJunkins touched
them inappropriately. The two didn’t mention Shafer’s name, but one of them, Springfield resident Jack Paciolla, later
told Illinois Times that he based his statements on Shafer’s
resignation letter, which he said has been shared by many social-justice
activists in the community.
The controversy surrounding
McJunkins wasn’t mentioned in the Sept. 26 news release announcing the two new
cochairs. The two will join original cochair Dr. Jerry Kruse, dean and provost
of Springfield’s Southern Illinois School of Medicine.
Turner said in the news release:
“This change in leadership comes after a successful Sept. 16 listening session
in which more than 20 county residents spoke out about their hopes and concerns
for the commission. As we have been from the beginning, we will continue to be
responsive to community voices in this process.”
The release said participants at
the session “spoke up about the commission’s leadership, member selection,
scope and authority.”
McJunkins said in the release:
“The cochairs have been committed to listening and learning first, even while
others are pushing for immediate action. One of the things we have consistently
heard is that it is important to have the Massey family represented in the
leadership of the commission. My transition makes a way for that.”
No criminal charges or formal
complaints have been filed against McJunkins, though Shafer said in her March
23, 2023, resignation email to Faith Coalition officials that McJunkins grabbed
her buttocks when they hugged after a meeting in McJunkins’ office on Feb. 23,
2023.
Shafer also wrote in her letter
that Shelly Heideman, a former Faith Coalition executive director, told Shafer on
March 8, 2023, that she should go back and meet with McJunkins “and said I
could take someone else with me.”
According to Shafer, Heideman also
said Susan Eby, a former Faith Coalition board member, told Heideman “that this
used to happen to other young women when he was president of FCCG and they had
to sit down with Pastor McJunkins about it, and he denied it.”
Eby told Illinois Times that she never knew of any prior complaints about
Junkins’ treatment of women and never reported any such complaints to Heideman.
Heideman, who is retired, said she
never recommended that Shafer confront McJunkins alone and never received
warnings from Eby or anyone else about prior conduct by McJunkins.
McJunkins previously told IT that he wouldn’t resign from the
commission. Resigning would amount to an admission of guilt and would “stop
progress of the commission,” McJunkins said.
About 200 applications have been
submitted for the remaining 12 spots on the commission to be filled. The news
release said the new cochairs “will need some time to transition into the
leadership position, review the commission structure and member selection. In
light of this, the cochairs will delay the announcement of additional
commissioner names and the previously scheduled Sept. 30 hearing.”
