My thoughts? I am a MOTHER, I have 2 daughters and one grandson. It would always come down to their SURVIVAL. Souls’ basic need is to survive under any circumstance. So I totally get why Tonya Graham did what she did. But I certainly don’t celebrate it being caught on camera and exploited for media gain. Other Black Mothers go through this everyday of their and their children’s lives. They didn’t build the white supremacist system. But they have to access all their God-given creativity to keep their children safe.
Black mothers want for their kids the same things any mother would want.
FOOD, SHELTER, CLOTHING, EDUCATION. Why is this so hard for America to understand?
Read this article and let 3 Chics know your thoughts. Thank you!
Why is America celebrating the beating of a black child? By Stacey Patton
It’s not surprising that a black mother in Baltimore who chased down, cursed and beat her 16-year-old son in the middle of a riot has been called a hero. In this country, when black mothers fulfill stereotypes of mammies, angry and thwarting resistance to a system designed to kill their children, they get praised.
“He gave me eye contact,” Toya Graham told CBS News. “And at that point, you know, not even thinking about cameras or anything like that — that’s my only son and at the end of the day, I don’t want him to be a Freddie Gray. Is he the perfect boy? No he’s not, but he’s mine.”
In other words, Graham’s message to America is: I will teach my black son not to resist white supremacy so he can live.
A mom’s violence won’t keep her son safe
Notice this ORIGINAL VIDEO has 7,012,722 views 0VER 7 MILLION VIEWS! That’s some voyeuristic celebration isn’t it?
My thoughts are with Freddie Gray’s mother. How many days and nights did she have to give Freddie “THE TALK?” What did she have to give up in order to make sure he could survive? Her emotional health, mental health, physical well-being? All of who she is? is she walking around in an empty shell now, because she practically lived Freddie’s life for him, and now that he’s dead, MURDERED, who is she? How will she go on without Freddie, because she was Freddie. She breathed every breath for him to keep him alive.
What does all of these killings of Black unarmed boys and men tell us about AMERICA, while the news cycles try to warn us about the threat of ISIS, when the REAL THREAT is right here in America, in our cities.
We got your “Mom of the Year,” RIGHT HERE!
Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin’s mother, handing out subs with Juan Grant, #FreddieGray’ brother.
http://pragmaticobotsunite.com/thursday-afternoon-thread-snoop-dogg-week/#comment-1996711763
Ooh!!! That is some all the way truth!!!!!
Yeah, Brian Rice.
Baltimore police officer who chased Freddie Gray had pattern of violence – court filings
Thursday 23 April 2015 07.55 EDT
Last modified on Tuesday 28 April 2015 08.31 EDT
The Baltimore police supervisor suspended over the death of Freddie Gray was accused of threatening to kill a man as part of an alleged “pattern of intimidation and violence” that led to a temporary restraining order.
Lieutenant Brian Rice was ordered to stay away from the man after a series of alleged confrontations, including one armed standoff that led to a 911 call and officers from two police departments spending 90 minutes defusing the situation, according to court filings.
“I am seeking protection immediately,” the man wrote to a court in Carroll County, Maryland, in January 2013. He alleged Rice’s behaviour had caused him “to have constant fear for my personal safety” and a “fear of imminent harm or death from Brian Rice”.
…
The emergency protective order was granted. According to a separate filing, Rice had firearms confiscated. In addition to his police-issued Glock pistol, he was said to own a personal Glock handgun, long guns and a cross-bow. The protective order was then lifted after a week when a judge ruled there was no basis in Maryland law for it to continue.
…
The man seeking protection from Rice in 2013 alleged to the court that Rice had said during an apparently alcohol-fuelled confrontation at the man’s house at 2am one morning in June 2012 that he “planned to kill” the man.
“I witnessed Brian Rice remove a black semi-automatic handgun from the trunk of his vehicle,” the man wrote in his petition for protection. As Rice screamed demands for the man to come out of his house, the man called 911 and officers from Carroll County sheriff’s department and Westminster police department arrived, he wrote.
…
However the man said he had previously not bothered to call 911 in response to threats from Rice due to the officer’s position in local law enforcement. “What good will it do?” he quoted his wife as saying. “He abuses his power as a police supervisor and no one believes us.”
In the two months preceding the armed threat at the man’s house, he said, Rice sent him “numerous harassing and sexually explicit text messages” from his Baltimore police department-issued BlackBerry. Rice refused to stop when asked to cease, the man said.
The man said he finally applied for protection because five days earlier, Rice arrived again at the man’s house in his Hyundai Sonata, before exiting and slamming his car door, yelling and waving his arms at the man. He finally returned to the driver’s seat, “racing the engine” while inching the car towards the man and flashing the headlights.
“This caused me to become distraught and fear my life was about to end,” the man wrote,
adding that he was “terrified and had immense fear” of the police lieutenant.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/23/baltimore-officer-who-chased-freddie-gray-had-pattern-of-violence-court-filings
THESE MOFOS MUST BE TAKEN DOWN, STAT!
I understand it. I was told as a child by my mom: I beat your ass so the police won’t have to…or something to that effect.
More deflection from the system, the cops and Gray.
I am disgusted with the police that illegally mistreat people and their methods of cover-up. All bad cops need to lose their badges and be charged.
It is very sad hearing about what parents have to do to protect their children.
Hi Tyren. This is a symptom of the system. it all ties together.
I get it, Ametia.
This is why we post yathzee. Everyone’s understandings and perceptions are different and any amount of awareness will never come, if we don’t take the time to at least look or listen to what others are thinking and what they have to share. It’s how I learn anyway.
It’s complex. I’m 59 years old, and I’m learning something new everyday. learning to see and hear things in ever new ways.
I’ve learned a lot just this week. You have posted many insightful comments that continue to help me.
“…Everyone’s understandings and perceptions are different and any amount of awareness will never come, if we don’t take the time to at least look or listen to what others are thinking and what they have to share…”
Indeed Ametia. And thank you to you, SG2 and Rikyrah for a space where we can share, unburden, learn…
Thank you guys so much for this wonderful place where we can tell our truth, passion, hurts, fears, anger, pain from an honest place and without fear.
You are welcome, ellihass. We appreciate your contributions.
The insights you share with our community are thought-provoking, and 3 Chics appreciate you!
The “powers that be” within the Baltimore PD, in my opinion, are intentionally mishandling the Freddie Gray case. It seems as though they don’t give a hoot about the Black community and Freddie’s family that is mourning his death at the hands of their police buddies. I am disgusted!
https://twitter.com/WesleyLowery/status/593856439040483330/photo/1
Good old JIM CROW. What parent wouldn’t be afraid for their child’s life in a city that has this much police brutality and suits filed for it.
Exactly.
Mother of Baltimore rioter REGRETS telling 18-year-old son to turn himself in for smashing up cars with traffic cone after his bail is set at $500,000
13:12 EST, 30 April 2015
Story highlights:
*Allen Bullock, 18, was on front page of local paper smashing up a car
*He posted the photo on his Facebook with a message for Freddie Gray
*But when his stepfather saw the paper he told him to turn himself in
*Now, however, his family regrets the move as he faces 8 years in jail
The mother of a rioter says she regrets telling her son to turn himself in.
Allen Bullock, 18, appeared on the front page of the Baltimore Sun last Sunday, smashing a car windscreen with a traffic cone. It was two days before a state of emergency was declared in the Maryland capital to control riots.
After seeing the newspaper, Bullock’s stepfather Maurice Hawkins told him he had to ‘do the right thing’ and contacted police.
But now, with Bullock’s bail set at $500,000 and the threat of eight years in jail, his family has wavered in their conviction.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3062532/Mother-Baltimore-rioter-REGRETS-telling-18-year-old-son-turn-smashing-cars-police-cone-bail-set-500-000.html#ixzz3YoqL6hJm
Dear Lord. Well, doing the right thing isn’t always crystal clear. Everything has a context and sometimes it’s best to lay low.
Let’s see, ‘Do the right thing.” Very costly in this instance. Baltimore, like Ferguson and I’m thinking a host of other USA cities are milking the poor & POC.
What did ‘Barretta’ say: “DON’T DO THE CRIME, IF YOU CAN’T DO THE TIME.” $$$$
No one here is advocating breaking the law, it’s that the laws are not enforced EQUALLY in this country. Thus, we are posting & commenting EVERY DAMN DAY about how America’s the laws being applied to it’s citizens of color.
UNJUSTLY of course..
She wants to SAVE HER CHILD’S LIFE!!!
Plain and simple.
Nobody can convince me otherwise.
THANK YOU!
I’m reposting this here, because Margaret & Helen GET IT
A Message to Whitey
Margaret – I had assumed if I wrote again, it would mostly likely be about Hillary. But watching all this violence in Baltimore unfolding on the television moves me to write this instead. Normally I would tell you that when it comes to racial issues, an old white woman from Georgia probably should keep her mouth shut and her opinion to herself. In fact, that’s probably a good idea for white people everywhere because we really probably will just say a whole lot of stupid if we open our mouths right now. But you know me, I have never known when to just shut up…
HERE IS MY WHITE STORY:
About 60 years ago my husband and I scraped together every penny we had to buy a small but lovely home in a safe neighborhood with good schools. Our children had a lovely childhood. They got a good education and always knew that going to college was an achievable goal. The worst thing that ever happened in our neighborhood was a bad divorce or a scandalous affair. Murders and robberies happened across town. And when that happened we spoke of it in hushed tones as we smoked fancy cigarettes and drank iced tea on the back porch. Our children all graduated from college, married and had families of their own. Our grandchildren are repeating the cycle and we even have some great-grandchildren who will continue to do well long after I am dead and gone.
HERE COULD HAVE BEEN MY STORY IF I WAS A BLACK WOMAN:
About 60 years ago my husband and I would have tried to scrape together enough money to buy a small but lovely home in a safe neighborhood with good schools. Unfortunately the banks would not approve a mortgage for us and the neighborhood we wanted was restricted anyway. Our children would never truly feel the American dream was about them. The schools they attended would be poorly funded and under-achieving in every way. As hard as I tried to hide it from them, they would know that a life of crime, drugs and violence was a real possibility and it probably would pay better than any job they could get. Fearing authority would come more easily than trusting it. Some of them might overcome the odds but more than likely they would repeat a life of near poverty and almost but not quites… College would be possible but nearly twice as many of their white friends would see that happen rather than their black friends. They would have been called the n-word in various forms many times in their life and they would know that 1 in every 15 African American men are incarcerated in comparison to 1 in every 106 white men. When my family eventually celebrated the election of the first black President… we would have done so knowing he might be the last for many years to come. My grandchildren and great-grandchildren might fare slightly better, but only slightly and only if they were very lucky.
http://margaretandhelen.com/2015/04/28/a-message-to-whitey/
She does a great job telling it like it is to help willing Whites begin to understand.
Margaret & Helen never hold back. They get it. They get the system and have some understanding of their white privilege, without denying they have it, simply because they are white.
Love them!
You noticed they hadn’t posted anything since Thanksgiving last year.
This is really an excellent post, Ametia, especially what you say about Freddie Gray’s mother. Dear Lord, what a heavy burden to carry to the grave. I always think about the mothers of these slain, innocent victims of white supremacy and I wonder how they will live with this horrific injustice.
Isn’t it just like our corporate media to look at a video like this and get it all wrong?
I meant what Stacey Patton said about Freddie Gray’s mother. Excellent article.
The last comments about Freddie’s mother are mine, Liza, straight from my tear-stricken heart.
Thank you for the clarification, Ametia. These are sad times, to be sure.
Thank you, Liza.
I just wish that Toya Graham had refused to be interviewed. I certainly do not fault her for removing her son from a dangerous situation when she saw him with a rock in his hand, apparently ready to throw it toward the cops. She’s a single mom with six children doing the best she can and she has a hard row to hoe. From the way she slaps the kid around, she’s obviously done this before and admits so in the interview. She doesn’t hurt him, but this probably isn’t the best way to discipline her son on a regular basis.
There is nothing here to celebrate. If anything, people should be outraged by the level of fear that this black mother lives with everyday, worrying that her son could be the next Oscar Grant or Michael Brown or Freddie Gray. And there is no celebration in that, none at all.
You know Liza, Toya Graham did America a favor by doing the interview. It just further reveals the SYMPTOMS of the SICKNESS that America’s disease of RACISM has wrought!
And we know she got paid to do it, and she needed the money too. It’s all about SURVIVAL for these folks and us too.
She had her hair nicely done, nice clothes, nice sparkling jewelry, ready to go before the camera to share her burden, if only for 15 minutes of fame? No, this was more about attention to what America’s system racism has done and is continuing to do to BLACK LIVES.
Yeah, I thought about that too. Being on TV, getting paid, etc… was probably too much to resist. What I find so distressing are all those white folks sitting in their armchairs saying, “Well, just look at this. Now if all those black folks would just teach their boys to stay out of trouble we wouldn’t be having all these riots and all these problems with the races.”
There is a straight path to the truth. Every reasonably intelligent person knows that. The corporate media is just ginning up sideshows and I think it’s unconscionable because they do it for ratings and money. But, hopefully, there will be those who see through that, and will understand how and why Toya Graham got to this point, and why this outcome is so predictable given the circumstances that she cannot control but is forced to deal with every day of her life. I don’t know…
I am torn on the subject of media attention. It can be extremely detrimental when justice is at stake, as in the case of Trayvon Martin. Yet, this is a crisis, and there has to be media attention because problems that are ignored never get solved. But corporate media right now is not capable of reporting facts, whatever journalism standards they once had don’t even exist anymore.
Yes! CBS’ Norah O’Donnell & Charlie Rose, sitting their grinning and so smug, like they had won the lottery to solve all those BLACK race riot problems in the world!
My hope is that the Gray family attorneys stay as far away from ALL media, going forward.
Because, you nailed it, the media is NOT capable of reporting any semblance of STRAIGHT TRUTH.
ALSO TOO THIS:
“This celebration of Graham reflects a belief that black youths are inherently problematic, criminal and out of control. The video also supports the idea that black fathers are absent, suggesting that all we need is an angry black mom to beat the “thug” out of an angry young man – and everything will be fine.
What is so disturbing is that white supremacy is let off the hook. A militarized and racist police force is not the problem. Systemic racism — from the War on Drugs to racial profiling, from hyper segregation to community divestment — is not the issue.
The message becomes: Black children’s behavior is the true enemy of peace.”
and this ALSO TOO……
“Praising Graham distracts from a hard truth: It doesn’t matter how black children behave – whether they throw rocks at the police, burn a CVS, join gangs, walk home from the store with candy in their pocket, listen to rap music in a car with friends, play with a toy gun in a park, or simply make eye contact with a police officer – they risk being killed and blamed for their own deaths because black youths are rarely viewed as innocent or worthy of protection.”
I see you #Amerikkka
Mom of the year my arse! This is what white supremacy built. Black parents living in fear of the police gunning their kid down for existing in black skin.
She didn’t want her son to protest. and of course that’s what white supremacist America wants. So she drags her son out of the area of protests. WHY?
To save him from being gun down by a white supremacist system.
OH THE SHEER FUCKING IRONY OF IT ALL.
Excellent points in your article, Ametia.
Thank you, yahtzee. What are your thoughts as a mother?
No mother should beat their son to save him from White Supremacy. No mother should beat her son. Period.
Remember how, during Jim Crow, police/sheriffs at the station would make parents whip and beat their children?
Jim Crow is alive today in the events we are watching.
As a white mother, surely you have faced challenges with you children. What mother doesn’t.
What are some of them, and how have you dealt with them?
From your question, Ametia, I sense that I did not get my point across.
I was incensed that a Black mother had to put on an dramatic spectacle in front of the police to show them that she would handle things to save her son from the harsh treatment that the police would have inflicted upon her son. (Her knowing the history of police mistreatment of Black youth.)
THIS:
“He gave me eye contact,” Toya Graham told CBS News. “And at that point, you know, not even thinking about cameras or anything like that — that’s my only son and at the end of the day, I don’t want him to be a Freddie Gray. Is he the perfect boy? No he’s not, but he’s mine.”
In other words, Graham’s message to America is: I will teach my black son not to resist white supremacy so he can live.”
Heartbreaking.
My heart is in tears.