I Want to Join the Wall of Moms

So “we” are tear-gassing Moms now. It’s not the first or the only time moms have protested and been arrested and mistreated. Look at the histories of protests by BIPOC people, including mothers and grandmothers. Check out Suffragette history. But it’s the first time a protest has actually been called a Wall of Moms, and I want to be in that wall.

I offered to join Antifa once, at a protest at the Austin Capitol, but the kids just looked at me funny. I did tell one of them I have a second-degree black belt in Aikido, and he agreed that might come on handy. They were there to protect other protestors, although it wasn’t necessary that day.

My offer wasn’t about wanting to participate in violence. It was a desire to avoid violence by protecting those threatened by it. That’s the goal of Antifa, and it’s the goal of what is being called Momtifa.

That’s what brought out the Wall of Moms in Portland recently. 45 had sent in armed federal agents and Homeland Security to keep “law and order” at the ongoing Portland Black Lives Matter protests. Reportedly, agents are picking up protesters and loading them in vans, without reason to detain, and shooting tear gas and flash bangs into crowds. The Moms decided to form a human wall between protesters and federal agents. They link arms. They chant, “Moms are here! Feds stay clear!” and “Leave our kids alone.”

Their goal is to serve as human shields. It’s a role we moms are used to. I know moms that have thrown themselves between their child and a dog, between their child and a much older bullying child (me), between their child and any number of other physical, and metaphorically, emotional threats. We are the perfect cohort to protect other peoples’ children along with our own.

I just so happen to be a white mom with an African-American son, and helped raise another one, his best friend. I’ve literally stood between them, their friends, and police officers. This would simply be on a grander scale, and I want to be one of those yellow bricks in that particular wall.

My desire, and the actions of the mothers in Portland, in no way ignores the efforts of BIPOC mothers throughout our history. Those that marched in the Civil Rights Movement are our sisters. LatinX mothers who picketed during the fight for farmworkers’ rights, for their children’s right to go to school and have health care, are our sisters. Those Native American mothers who hid and guarded their children, fighting off federal soldiers, are our sisters. Suffragettes, who were mostly, but not all white, are our sisters. We know this.

Our memory and honoring of their fights are why we are ready. We’re ready to stand guard over other peoples’ children with our own bodies. So that when you tear gas us while we stand peacefully with linked arms, you will look like the bullies you are, stand-ins for one of the biggest bullies of them all. You’ll also look like fools.

I’ll get my chance. 45 has promised to send federal agents and Homeland Security to all “Democratic” cities to help quell riots. Austin is a major one, and consistently liberal.

Never mind that these gatherings are, by and large, peaceful protests. Never mind that the mayors don’t want federal interference, and haven’t requested it. Never mind that the governors have asked the feds to leave. 45 stands primed to send people to tear gas mothers wearing masks and yellow shirts, looking, as founder Bev Barnum described, “…like we were going to Target, like normal people. ” Looking as if they are out to buy flowers to plant, or sunflowers to hold or put on fences, or food to cook.

Because that’s what good mothers do. We provide, protect, nurture, and beautify. We grew people in our bodies, and we are not about to let other people continue to jail them, shoot them, or spirit them away. Not the people we grew in our bodies, nor those grown by other mothers of other skin colors.

There is a reason mothers say, “That brings out my mother bear.” Mother bears don’t bother others unless they perceive their cubs are in danger. Then the mother bear stands tall, bellows, and bares teeth. She does it to send the threat away. Nobody wants to face an enraged, protective mother bear.

The Wall of Moms may not be baring teeth. They aren’t even bellowing. They are simply standing tall, calling out for peace WITH justice, and warning those who would hurt their cubs, or the cubs of other mother bears, to step away. If you don’t want to face one mother bear, how do you feel about facing and threatening an entire wall of them?

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Previously published on “Equality Includes You”, a Medium publication.

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