Tamika Palmer, the mother of Breonna Taylor, grieves for the loss of her daughterBreonna Taylor was a few weeks shy of 27 when she was fatally shot inside her apartment on March 13, 2020. "Antwon Rose II is pictured with his mother, Michelle Kenney. So I had to get up and I had to talk and I had to be around these people. We carry the pain every single day," Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin said. When LeBron [James] moved to the L.A. Lakers, I would joke with him when he was in the playoffs and when the team was down. But I can certainly work toward saving my older son. I didn't want to be up out of bed.
Breonna should still be here.
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I felt like I was never going to be happy again. I'm nervous and scared all the time.
If I could speak to Antwon I’d tell him that I love him and that I'm sorry--so sorry. Think to yourself, 'What if that was my son?'
I was angry and all I could see was red. Like I said, I always knew he was going to do something big. Illustration by QU Lan/Photo Courtesy Sybrina FultonAntwon Rose's mom Michelle Kenney: "I never imagined him losing his life to somebody who was sworn to protect and serve. My son was educated. [And then] for her birthday to come up so quickly after this incident was heartbreaking. This is how a group of government officials made the case go away without a trial. The list goes on of Black lives taken from their communities, their families and of course, from their mothers.Shellee Mendes, a mother of three in Boston on June 27, 2020. I'm doing my best to make him proud because I wasn't there to protect him that day from this man who murdered him.Allison Jean shares the life, death and legacy of her middle child, Botham Jean. Before, I was just living a normal life, trying to take care of my kids. Antwon Rose's mom Michelle Kenney: "I never imagined him losing his life to somebody who was sworn to protect and serve. They made him look like a thug, but my son was not a throwaway. As Tamir Rice's 14-year-old sister rushed to her brother's side, police officers "tackled" her, handcuffed her and placed her in a squad car, mother says. "Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old, excelled in soccer, football, basketball and more, according to his mother. These mothers share the searing pain of losing a child -- one that many of them say they relive each time another Black life is tragically taken. On Nov. 22, 2014, Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old Black child, was shot and killed by a white police officer while playing with a pellet gun outside a recreation center in Cleveland, Ohio. Tamir E. Rice was born on June 15, 2002 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA as Tamir Eric Rice. Tamir Rice was a 12-year-old Cleveland boy shot to death by the police for playing with a toy gun. He may not have been anything to those who took his life, but he was everything to me.
I always wonder if Antwon is proud of me. To know she was in her house, in her own bed and someone kicked in her door and killed her [is crushing]. Then, he fought. Here, the women open up to "GMA" in their own words about their sons and daughters' lives, their tragic deaths, their legacies and what justice means to them amid the current movement. I would probably be calling them on the phone every day making sure he went to class. With that being seen all over the world, I think it deserves an indictment, a conviction on a federal level. I will never stop fighting. I’m still being a mom, a grandmother and I’m always going to be fighting for police reform, dismantling the whole system. I just miss having my kid in the house.
Most of all, he enjoyed being around people. [When I learned that she’d been killed] I fell to the ground. He was a grandson. Being a Black mother in America is stressful. "If these tears do not shake America, the tears that we shed as mothers will be the tears that break America," Botham Jean's mom, Allison Jean, echoed. Ahmaud didn't deserve that. I just want it to be everywhere. But we know this, as Tamir's parents said: "the police officers acted quickly"--a measured but incisive understatement.Officer Timothy Loehmann shot him twice, 1.5-2 seconds after he got out of his car. Samaira Rice, the mother of 12-year-old Tamir Rice was fatally shot by a white police officer, said: "I don't even know what my son would have looked like. They have to grieve in the way that I have grieved, in the way I’m still grieving and no mother and father, sister or brother--no one--deserves to be presented with such pain.
We feel he did not deserve to be taken away from us.While we request the release of the complete video, we also ask for the media to give our family privacy as we continue to grieve and learn about what happened. I don't think I ever really understood my position in this fight prior to what happened to my daughter. For me, the thought of not having his pictures up and then all of a sudden having someone put them my face was triggering and I knew that was going to make me sad. But I'm now learning that I have a higher position in this fight and, and whatever I have to do to remain in it is what I'm going to do, because it should never happen to another Black daughter, another Black person, period. I’m not allowed to be normal.Botham Jean's mother: Every time a Black person is killed by police, I relive my son’s deathTheir painful bond: Black mothers speak out together on their unimaginable lossCoronavirus updates: Texas governor to skip GOP conventionHere are some commonly used terms that actually have racist originsChinese scientist arrested after seeking medical careABC News’ Deborah Roberts speaks to the moms of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Botham Jean, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Antwon Rose and Trayvon Martin about their losses and being a Black mom in the U.S.Shellee Mendes, a mother of three in Boston on June 27, 2020.Wanda Cooper Jones speaks out on the life and death of her youngest child, Ahmaud Arbery.Ahmaud Arbery is pictured with his mother Wanda Cooper-Jones.
Now, I’m not allowed to be normal because of what America has done to my family.God is using me in a way that’s much bigger than all of us.