Thread by @digitalsista

To get Black mothers to stand down the first threat is to their children. Yet this country uses the stereotype that we are the worst mothers and can not protect our children in almost every daily message. When what we really can't control is how the state treats our children.

https://twitter.com/CornellWBrooks/status/1287024370586660864

That when we speak up to protect our children we are the villains instead of those attempting to cause our children and our families harm. Harms from the state and those racists that will be protected by the state.

Samples that you see every day. the MI judge that took that 15-year-old from her mother and said she was flourishing in the cages of the state detention. That somehow being with her mother was more harmful. thegrio.com/2020/07/21/mic…

Tamir Rice killed for playing with a toy gun outside something that would never get a white child killed but his mother is blamed for letting her child be a child. abcnews.go.com/GMA/News/12-ye…

A cop threatening the life of a 5-year-old on FB. The hate for-profit platform.

“We’ll see how much her life matters soon . . . better be careful leaving your info open where she can be found :) hold her close tonight, it’ll be the last time.”

washingtonpost.com/news/post-nati…

#CornerStoreCaroline that decided she was angry at a black mother and threatened to get her son arrested by the police over a lie. Video footage is the only thing that saved him. But his torment wasn't the only thing she was after. time.com/5426067/corner…

Caroline was one of the worst of our current time because she harkened the storyline of the past that got boys like Till murdered. A lie from a WW. She apologized to the children but not the mother. I did a thread about her.

https://twitter.com/digitalsista/status/1051150527684337665

While we are fighting these battles we are also told we can't raise or protect our sons. We need men to do that. Even when others won't admit that some of the harms upon our children come from the men around them. But if we stand up to them we are also wrong.

We have to fight against the harms from the state, white supremacists, antiblack actors, misogynoir live with the legacy of being breeders during slavery that allow other trash-filled stereotypes about our sexuality that is perpetuated by just about everyone around us.

Black girls considered fast from the start. That grown-ass men shouldn't be held accountable for their actions. I won't go into the sexual consent laws nor my work as a counselor for a decade with neglected and abused children today. But let's just say I will never forget.

I have more I could say here but I won't. What I am going to do is say all those single mom and welfare mom tropes y'all like to constantly put out into the ether is trash. If you do it that makes you trash.

Every mother wants what's best for their child.

Some mothers want what's best for all children. Communal mother love. I know this & have experienced it all of my childhood. I promise you it didn't come from wyte moms.

Some mothers ONLY want what's best for their children

The point here is Black and other BIPoC children are never seen as innocent. They are seen as threats, targets, pawns, never given the benefit of the doubt. While children like Smiley that literally cause public harm are protected and seen as innocent despite the evidence.

Imagine growing up always knowing there is a target on your back. You don't have a childhood. Not a free one. But then imagine when you become a mother that target got wider. You will need to grab more tools and bigger shields not less. It's not magic. It's survival.

We need laws like the crown act to protect our hair and that of our children for the way it grows out of our heads.

Which other mothers has to deal with that?

glamour.com/story/the-crow…

Schools, jobs and other places that put a target on our hair. Imagine attempting to keep a child from actually graduating HS because of his hair. Look how long it is. Why at graduation?

washingtonpost.com/education/2020…

The very concept of giving birth. The reason anyone knows about how the reproductive system works is b/c of experimenting on the bodies of enslaved Black Women Something that will remain in medical books. That our pain threshold is higher than others. history.com/news/the-fathe…

That somehow we still don't get preference after these experiments to be cared for the most during childbirth. Here we are dying at higher rates. WHY? what is know about our reproductive system is based on us. our bodies. npr.org/2017/12/07/568…

But what the worst of it all is have the reproductive justice movement lead by WW instead of us. to have Black Women as leaders here silenced and pushed aside while we face these challenges as mothers as we embrace our sexuality.

The other is to have folks tell us which form of healthcare system we should buy into. No matter the money we have. Even if the entire health care system is fully paid for we will still be dying. We'll just be paying for our own death.

This is where all I ever what to say to those that do this. Bey and Serena almost died in childbirth. And it wasn't because they didn't have the money. It was because they fought for themselves. Battles that can't always be won. so do me a favor.

But let's not forget the fact that so many of you are your families are alive because of Henrietta Lacks. Yep, a Black woman whose cells were used without her permission. hopkinsmedicine.org/henriettalacks/

but would you thank her? or any of the enslaved women who were experimented on?

the truth is no. how do I know? Because of the way most of you treat Black Women now. All that I listed here also says no.