Motherhood is no easy feat. For some it means sacrifice, added responsibility, patience, empathy, and unconditional love. Unfortunately, with all of these powerful forces exuding from a mother’s heart, it can’t protect a child from the dangers of the world.
There have been several lives taken by the hands of police. Some of those lives include innocent African American youth whose only offense is existing while Black. This Mother’s Day [Sunday, May 8], as families get together to cherish life and love, some mothers can only hold onto the memory of their children.
In a speech with the Library of Congress, Geneva Reed-Veal, mother of Sandra Bland, reduced her audience to tears, sharing a microcosm of the emotions she faced learning that at 27, her daughter was dead.
“If you want me to believe that my daughter—that I sent down there sitting up, driving her own vehicle—would be sent home in a capsule in the bottom of a plane with luggage on top of her, that I’m going to shut up? I will not. I will not. I will continue to speak for every mother paralyzed because of the loss of their child.
Listen to Sandra Bland’s Mother from Josh Begley on Vimeo.
For some, Mother’s Day is a constant reminder of the injustices in the police force that ripped a special piece of their heart away.
While we celebrate our mothers for their love, guidance, and strength, take a moment to reflect on the strength, dedication, and will of those bearing the day without their children due to police brutality.
