A group of moms took the initiative to protect those who were protesting against police barbarity and racism. Among the many other proceedings going on against racism, ‘Human Wall’ was created by a bunch of mothers. Federal law enforcement officers were availed by the Department of Homeland security and U.S Marshals Service to Portland, Oregon.
A 35-year-old mother of two, Bev Barnum, gave rise to Wall of Moms. The group expected that they could protect people by not posing a threat. In an interview, she said,” We wanted to look like we were going to Target, like normal people.”
To scatter the throng, the officers made use of tear gas. For many weeks, the officers impeded the protesters. The protests were restricted, without the officers owing any clarification to the crowd. The mothers had a viewpoint of safeguarding the protestors’ right to calmly protest.
The ‘Human wall’ began with a Facebook event called “Wall of Moms” where the mothers defined what their aim was regarding the event. The event had “Calling all moms” as its description. The event conveyed all the moms out there to participate in protecting the people, which indeed is the best skill of mothers. Concerning the ongoing issues of protestors being harmed without a cause and unable to exercise their rights, the event encouraged the mothers to participate and contribute their effort in eradicating racism.
The post also shared with people how the protestors were taken into anonymous cars by undesignated law enforcement. It stimulated the mothers by remarking how frequently they were trivialized and how much more vehement they are in reality.
A group of more than thirty mothers, on July 18th, assembled close by the federal courthouse in downtown Portland. This demonstration, where all the mothers were fully prepared wearing helmets and chanting, was posted on tweeter by Joshua Potash. The video surfaced with a caption that said,” Incredible scene in Portland right now. A group of moms is chanting, ‘Feds stay clear! Moms are here!’ at the federal courthouse.”
The mothers strongly continued their protest for hours but soon they were diffused by the federal officers. Some pictures of the Human wall were publicized on tweeter by Julia Peattie, a 63-year-old retired teacher and mother, who participated for the cause. More pictures of the demonstrators were tweeted by Lindsey Smith, where women could be seen standing arm in arm. Barnum said that after a while, few moms who participated for the cause were tear-gassed by federal agents making the situation even more terrible.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler updated people by saying that the federal agents were stationed by the order of President Donald Trump only to tackle the increasing tensions in his city. Wheeler said,” Our local state law enforcement official had contained the situation. The energy was coming out of the demonstrations. We had hoped they would end within a matter of days. And what happened instead is, the federal troops came in. They used unconstitutional tactics. They injured nonviolent demonstrators, and the whole thing blew up again like a powder keg.”
The group of mothers, who formed the Wall of Moms, look forward to coming back for the protest soon and make the wall of moms even stronger.
