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The Wall of Moms is a group, primarily of women who identify as mothers, who have demonstrated in
George Floyd protests
The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internati ...
in
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
, as well as other groups in U.S. cities including
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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,
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
,
and
Tampa, Florida
Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...
. The group's first protest was attended by approximately 40 women; hundreds to thousands have participated since then.
Background
Mothers, wives, and other female relatives have come together to protest state-sponsored violence and politicized police actions in multiple countries, including Argentina (
Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo
The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo is an Argentine human rights association formed in response to the National Reorganization Process, the military dictatorship by Jorge Rafael Videla, with the goal of finding the '' desaparecidos'', initially, a ...
,
Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo
The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo ( es, italic=no, Asociación Civil Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo) is a human rights organization with the goal of finding the children stolen and illegally adopted during the 1976–1983 Argentine military dicta ...
), China (
Tiananmen Mothers The Tiananmen Mothers ( zh, 天安门母亲) is a group of Chinese democracy activists promoting a change in the government's position over the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. It is led by Ding Zilin, a retired university professor whos ...
), Cuba (
Ladies in White
Ladies in White ( es, italics=no, Damas de Blanco) is an opposition movement in Cuba founded in 2003 by wives and other female relatives of jailed dissidents and those who have been made to disappear by the government. The women protest the impri ...
), Iran (
Mourning Mothers
The Mourning Mothers (also known as the Mothers of Laleh Park) are a group of Iranian women whose spouses or children were killed by government agents in the protests following the disputed Iranian presidential election of 2009. The group also i ...
,
Mothers of Khavaran
Mothers of Khavaran ( fa, مادران خاوران) or "Mothers and Families of Khavaran" is a group of mothers and families of the victims of the state atrocities in the 80s in Iran devoted to seeking truth and justice for the victims of mass exe ...
), Mexico (mothers of the disappeared), Russia (
Union of the Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia), Sri Lanka (mothers of the disappeared), and Turkey (
Saturday Mothers
The Saturday Mothers ( tr, Cumartesi Anneleri) is a group which gathers every Saturday at noon for half an hour at Galatasaray, Istanbul, Turkey, initially to ask for clarification about their missing relatives.Gülsüm Baydar and Berfin İvegen ...
).
Description and membership
Portland's Wall of Moms has been described by some journalists as "a group of mainly white, suburban mothers", but also "includes those who are nonbinary and people who consider themselves mothers".
[ Participants gained national attention for locking arms and chanting during local George Floyd protests. ]NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
's Danielle Kurtzleben says the group demonstrates "the power of moms as activists".[ The mothers are known for wearing yellow and acting as a barrier between federal agents and other demonstrators. The '' Catholic Sentinel'' and '']National Catholic Reporter
The ''National Catholic Reporter'' (''NCR'') is a progressive national newspaper in the United States that reports on issues related to the Catholic Church. Based in Kansas City, Missouri, ''NCR'' was founded by Robert Hoyt in 1964. Hoyt want ...
'' have noted the participation by local Catholics.
Affectionate nicknames for the group include "MomBloc" and "Momtifa".Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
event for the initial protest.[ The private Facebook group has approximately 17,000 members, as of July 26, 2020.][
]
Reactions
On July 26, President Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
tweeted, "The line of innocent 'mothers' were a scam that Lamestream refuses to acknowledge, just like they don't report the violence of these demonstrations!"
Raffi
Raffi Cavoukian, ( hy, Րաֆֆի, born July 8, 1948), known professionally by the mononym Raffi, is a Canadian singer-lyricist and author of Armenian descent born in Egypt, best known for his children's music. He developed his career as a " ...
released "Portland Moms" as a protest song
A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of ''topical'' songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre.
Among social mov ...
in support of the Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...
movement and Wall of Moms,Buffalo Gals
"Buffalo Gals" is a traditional American song, written and published as "Lubly Fan" in 1844 by the blackface minstrel John Hodges, who performed as "Cool White". The song was widely popular throughout the United States, where minstrels often ...
". He recorded the song with singer Lindsay Munroe and dobro player Ivan Rosenberg, after the idea struck him at 3am. According to ''Willamette Week
''Willamette Week'' (''WW'') is an alternative weekly newspaper and a website published in Portland, Oregon, United States, since 1974. It features reports on local news, politics, sports, business, and culture.
History
Early history
''Willame ...
'' Matthew Singer, "It's a short, simple folk jam, shouting out Black Lives Matter and the Wall of Vets in addition to the song's namesake, with a refrain nodding the nightly protests downtown."
The BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
called the Wall of Moms "a good example of mainly middle-class, middle-aged white women explicitly ''not'' being
Karens
The Karen, kjp, ပ်ုဖၠုံဆိုဒ်, my, ကရင်လူမျိုး, , th, กะเหรี่ยง ( ), also known as the Kayin, Kariang or Kawthoolese, are an ethnolinguistic group of Sino-Tibetan language ...
. Instead, the Wall of Moms are seen by activists as using their privilege to protest against the very same systemic racism and classism that Karens actively seek to exploit."
Similar groups
The group inspired participation by similar groups such as "walls" of fathers (such as "DadBloc" or "PDX Dad Pod", a
tongue-in-cheek
The idiom tongue-in-cheek refers to a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a serious manner.
History
The phrase originally expressed contempt, but by 1842 had acquired its modern meaning. Early users of the phrase include Sir Walter Scott ...
reference to
Dad bod, most known for wielding
leaf blower
A leaf blower, commonly known as a blower, is a device that propels air out of a nozzle to move debris such as leaves and grass cuttings. Leaf blowers are powered by electric or gasoline motors. Gasoline models have traditionally been two-strok ...
s and wearing orange construction vests), ChefBloc (with pizza boxes), lawyers (Lawyers for Black Lives, in suits), nurses (in
scrubs), teachers (Teachers Against Tyrants, in red or green shirts), and veterans (Wall of Vets).
Lawsuit
On July 27, 2020, the nonprofit organization Protect Democracy and
Perkins Coie
Perkins Coie is an American multinational law firm headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1912, it is recognized as an Am Law 50 firm. It is the largest law firm headquartered in the Pacific Northwest and has 20 offices across the Un ...
filed a lawsuit in
Washington, D.C.
)
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on behalf of Wall of Moms,
Don't Shoot Portland
Don't Shoot Portland, also called Don't Shoot PDX, is a Portland, Oregon-based accountability group formed by Black Lives Matter supporter Teressa Raiford to scrutinize actions of the Portland Police Bureau.
History
Don't Shoot Portland held a ...
, and several individual protesters against the
Department of Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...
,
Customs and Border Protection,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration tha ...
, the
U.S. Marshals Service, the
Federal Protective Service, the
Department of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
, and the heads of these federal agencies.
Don't Shoot Portland and the Wall of Moms coordinated efforts during the protests,
[ and the suit alleges that the defendants "violated laintiffs'constitutional rights, went beyond legal authority and were directed by someone not formally confirmed in their role".]
See also
* Moms United for Black Lives
* Raging Grannies
The Raging Grannies (or just "Raging Grannies") are activist organizations in many cities and towns in Canada, the United States, and in other countries. The first group started in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, in 198687.
They are social j ...
References
External links
*
* (July 28, 2020), Vice News
{{Black Lives Matter
2020 establishments in Oregon
George Floyd protests in the United States
George Floyd protests in Portland, Oregon
George Floyd protests in Seattle
Motherhood
Women in Oregon