The 19th: Mothers On What It Means to Have Black Children in America

Mamie Till is comforted following the murder of her son, Emmett in Mississippi, 1955. (Library of Congress, NAACP Collection)

“In some ways, the outrage and feelings of helplessness aren’t new to mothers of people of color, who are more likely to be killed by police officers than White people are. In 2021 alone, at least 93 people of color — including 13-year-old Adam Toledo in Chicago and 20-year-old Daunte Wright, who was killed mid-April less than 15 miles from where Floyd died — have been fatally shot by a police officer, according to the Washington Post. (An additional 70 people’s race was listed as “unknown.”) Bombarded with this backdrop of police brutality, some experts argue that, for mothers of Black children, the violence is a reproductive issue.”