Mothers’ Power in U.S. Protests Echoes a Global Tradition

The Wall of Moms in front of the federal court building in Portland, Ore., on Monday. Credit…Mason Trinca for The New York Times

By Amanda Taub

When mothers take to the streets — particularly those from privileged groups — governments take note. The “wall of moms” in Portland has taken up the cause against police violence.

Wearing matching shades of white or yellow, the women of the “Wall of Moms” in Portland, Ore., have become instant icons of the city’s protests, though the mothers nightly gatherings only began last Saturday and the city’s protests have been going on for more than a month.

They join a long line of mothers’ protests against state violence and what they view as authoritarianism around the world, including in South Africa, Sri Lanka, Argentina and Armenia, which have shown that mothers can be particularly effective advocates for a cause — but also that there is a catch.

History suggests that mothers’ power is most potent when they are able to wield their own respectability, and the protections it brings, as a political cudgel. But that is easiest for women who are already privileged: married, affluent, and members of the dominant racial or ethnic group.

Mothers who are less privileged often struggle to claim that power, even though they are often the ones who most urgently need it […]

Members of the Black Sash movement demonstrating against apartheid in Mmabatho, South Africa, in 1991. Credit…Gallo Images, via Shutterstock

via Mothers’ Power in U.S. Protests Echoes a Global Tradition ~ NYT — The Rōbert [Cholo] Report (pron: Rō’bear Re’por)