This Baltimore mother was not pleased to see her son rioting across the city on Monday. And she did not hide her disdain. After recognizing her son on television, this mother reportedly hauled him out and smacked him down. Leading several pundits to applaud her actions on Twitter.
Yeah but you know why she’s upset? Why she’s so aggressive? Her son might end up like all those others she’s seen on TV. Fucking pundits laughing and praising her- she’s terrified her own CHILD might be murdered trying to show awareness. THIS ISNT FUNNY. ITS NOT A JOKE. A MOTHER IS SCARED HER CHILD WILL BE KILLED. All the white people re blogging and going good for her don’t fucking understand why she’s so adamant. Christ.
EDIT: The mother herself has been quoted saying exactly this- she’s terrified her son will become the next Freddie Gray. People saying this mom is ashamed or shit using this as justification against the riots, you’re literally mocking a mother’s fear that her child attempting to make the world a better place for themselves, they cannot without the risk of DEATH.
look, with mother’s day coming up, I feel the need to remind people that there are people out there who
don’t get along with their mothers,
don’t think their mothers are beautiful,
don’t want anything to do with their mothers
and guilt tripping them in any way, or shaming them for not buying gifts/flowers/etc… is ignorant asshole behavior, and is v detrimental to someone’s mental stability surrounding any abuse they received from their mother.
it’s totally ok to talk about how great your mother is on Mother’s Day! but please tag it and be sensitive to the fact that mother’s/father’s day can be very triggering to a lot of people for a lot of different reasons. a little courtesy goes a long way.
I live in Baltimore and there is so much going around right now in the media and on the Internet, much of it totally ignorant in the same vein as all the ignorance that surrounded similar demonstrations across the country in the past few months. But some of it is especially heartbreaking and upsetting to read because it also obviously rests on these heartless and preconceived notions about Baltimore and the people here. Recent events aside, the people of Baltimore City get constantly dehumanized and shat on by the media and by people who have never even been here. Here are some articles that provide some measure of background about how Freddie Gray died and about the context that killed him. Far from covering the whole breadth of what is happening and what has been happening for a long time, they only scratch the surface of a context that’s absolutely not strictly limited to relations between the police and communities. There is so much more beyond that and the info here, so please keep that in mind as well.
On Monday, the media was quick to paint a single picture of Baltimore: a chaos scene of violence and mayhem filled with images of looting, rioting, the burning of a CVS and the torching of a police car. But on the ground, a very different story unfolded — and these remarkable photos and videos are proof.
if your opinion dehumanizes people, if it’s sexist or racist or ableist or transphobic or homophobic, then it does not deserve respect and neither do you
4/26/15: Protesting starts to take a violent turn.
4/27/15: Freddie Gray laid to rest. Peaceful protesters are out numbered by those wishing to create destruction. Baltimore Orioles call off game vs. White Sox. Baltimore City Public Schools to close on Tuesday 4/28. Looting, burning, and injuries to innocent have begun. State of emergency declared. National guard ordered into the city. Curfew put in place for 10 p.m.- 5 a.m. from 4/28-5/5. Governor and POTUS collaborating.
This has all happened so far that I may have missed something but a Google/Twitter search will bring you up to speed fairly quickly. The media though has framed this in the wrong light. The main message has been lost and Baltimore is burning because of it.
so i think i mentioned how my entire junior class got to sit in our auditorium and listen to ruby bridges talk about racism for two hours yesterday, but i didn’t talk about one of the most powerful moments in the presentation?
so we got to the end—like, the last twenty minutes—and she asked for questions. and we had a few standard questions (”how do you feel about people taking their education for granted?” “what would you say to the people who stood outside and protested you going to school if you met them again?”) but there was this kid waiting in the question line fidgeting nervously. and everybody could see it?? when he finally got up to ask his question, he asked her about her opinion on the events on ferguson.
and she mentioned her sons again, who she talked about earlier in the presentation. and then she told us about her son who was murdered. and she talked about the mothers who had their children taken away and how if you took a life unjustly and forsake your role as a keeper of the peace, you should be punished. and then she talked about how everybody chooses a side in this thing; good and evil.
and then she said that racism today is scarier than it was to her when she was growing up.
and the entire junior class was silent.
for those of you who don’t know, Ruby Bridges was the first black american child (one of the first???) to go to an all white school in the south, meaning all those photos you’ve seen of little black kids being harassed by a violent mob full of white adults – she grew up with that. and despite growing up in that environment she still thinks racism today is scarier than when she was growing up. idk but that comment got to me.
to everyone who has said that racism is gone or isnt as bad as it used to be “back then” – here’s someone who grew up “back then” saying that not only is racism is still alive today, but it’s even scarier than it was when she was growing up. go and read that comment again and think about it
For those who don’t know, the famous Norman Rockwell painting of the little Black girl being escorted by four US Marshals? That’s Ms. Bridges.
She was one of the first six Black children chosen to integrate New Orleans schools. Two of those chose to stay at their original schools after all. The other three went to a different school. Ruby was alone. Six years old, and all alone, escorted to and from school by US Marshals assigned to her personally by President Eisenhower.
White children pulled out of school when she was enrolled. White teachers refused to teach her. Only one teacher could be found who was willing to teach her, and that woman taught a class of one for an entire year. She received daily death threats, including from one woman who waited for her every single day in order to threaten to poison her. She could eat only food prepared at home that her Marshals had kept watch over. Her father lost his job. Her grandparents, who were sharecroppers, were turned off their land.
Sunday nights can be pretty rough. Try not to let yourself get too sad or anxious about the week ahead. You can get through anything that’s going to happen this week. You will do marvelous things and it’ll be WONDERFUL.
Here is your Sunday evening reminder that you can handle and make it through whatever this week throws at you.
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