DIGEST - Volume 9, Issue 1

8 TPC Digest T he death of Trayvon Martin in 2012 and the subsequent acquittal of the man who killed him sparked the #BlackLivesMatter movement, a global network of advocates focused on addressing local incidents of state and community violence. This incident of community violence as well as multiple incidents of state violence resulting in the deaths of unarmed African American boys and men by law enforcement appeared in various media outlets. These incidents galvanized members of the African American community and garnered empathy among mothers concerned for their own sons. The public mourning of African American mothers who had lost their sons to community and state violence led us to wonder about the effects such high-profile deaths might have on members of the African American community, especially those who were mothers of boys and young men. Based on research on racial and parental stress among African Americans, and informed by our anecdotal experiences and conversations with African American mothers, we interviewed 19 women who were raising sons between the ages of 2 and 35. We asked them about their experiences as African American mothers raising boys and young men, and probed about their feelings and reactions to media reports of African American deaths because of community and state violence. We asked them what incidents were most significant for them and how they felt about those incidents. We also asked about their physical and mental health and their self-identified strengths as mothers. The interviews of these 19 African American mothers were powerful and disheartening. The mothers described living their lives with a baseline fear that affected their physical well-being as well as their approach to parenting. They described themselves as hypervigilant regarding their sons, citing instances in which they hovered closely or restricted their sons’ movements in social spheres in an effort to protect them from the community and state violence they feared. These mothers also described hiding the intense emotions they experienced both outside and inside the home. Few endorsed mental health counseling as a helpful support because of cost, accessibility, or the cultural competence of a potential counselor. Instead, to cope with their experiences, they reported relying on their faith, drawing from internal strengths, and engaging in service and activism within their communities. The candid responses of the participants in this study illuminated a unique experience shaped by gender and race in a social context expressed through the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Their experiences remind us that culturally responsive practice is both ethical and essential. The participants held little confidence that counseling would be beneficial in addressing their unique needs as African American women fearing for the lives of the sons they put great energy into raising. The implications for the counseling profession are clear. More counselors of colors are needed in the profession and those practicing must re-evaluate their existing conceptual frameworks and theoretical practices to ensure that they are both culturally sensitive and responsive. Future research following this study might explore the experiences of African American fathers to compare their perspectives to those of the women in this study. Additionally, future studies exploring the experiences of African American parents raising daughters might deepen our understanding of parental stress and concerns at the intersection of race and gender J. Richelle Joe, NCC, is an assistant professor at the University of Central Florida. M. Ann Shillingford-Butler, NCC, is an associate professor at the University of Central Florida. Seungbin Oh is an assistant professor at Merrimack College. Correspondence can be addressed to Richelle Joe, P.O. Box 161250, Orlando, FL 32816-1250, jacqueline.joe@ucf.edu. J. Richelle Joe, M. Ann Shillingford-Butler, Seungbin Oh The Experiences of African American Mothers Raising Sons in the Context of #BlackLivesMatter 8 | TPC Digest