TPC Journal-Vol 9- Issue 1

67 In this phenomenological study, the authors explored the lived experiences of 19 African American mothers raising boys and young men to understand how media exposure to community and state violence connects to the physical and mental health of these mothers. Analysis of semi-structured individual interviews revealed six themes: psychological distress, physical manifestations of stress, parenting behaviors, empathic isolation, coping strategies, and strengths. The analysis of the data revealed that these themes were connected such that community and state violence were forces weighing on these mothers, resulting in emotional responses, changes to parenting approaches, physical responses, and empathic isolation, while the mothers’ coping strategies and strengths served as forces to uplift. The authors present the lived experiences of the participants through a discussion of these themes and their implications for counseling African American mothers within the current social–political context. Keywords: African American mothers, #BlackLivesMatter, community and state violence, media exposure, mental health During the 2016 Democratic National Convention, seven African American women took the stage in solidarity to shine a light on community and state violence and the need for criminal justice reform (Drabold, 2016; Sebastian, 2016). These women, collectively referred to as the “Mothers of the Movement,” included Lesley McSpadden, Gwen Carr, and Lucy McBath, the mothers of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Jordan Davis, respectively—young African American males whose deaths were widely publicized as examples of gun violence (community violence) or police use of force (state violence). Sybrina Fulton also was in attendance. The death of her son, Trayvon Martin, in 2012 sparked a modern conversation about violence against African Americans and led to the creation of the #BlackLivesMatter movement (Black Lives Matter, n.d.). During their address to the convention, the “Mothers of the Movement” shared their grief publicly and spoke on behalf of their children, with Fulton emphatically stating: “This isn’t about being politically correct. This is about saving our children” (Drabold, 2016). Sixty-one years earlier, Mamie Till had similarly allowed the world to see her grief as she wept over the open casket of her 14-year-old son, Emmett, who had been brutally murdered for being a young Black man in the Deep South (CBS News, 2016). Like the death of Trayvon Martin, Emmett Till’s death galvanized the African American community and motivated activists—including Rosa Parks—to participate in the modern civil rights movement (CBS News, 2016). By sharing the intense pain experienced by a mother’s loss of a child to violence, Mamie Till and the “Mothers of the Movement” allowed others to share in their grief. As written by Sybrina Fulton (2014, para 9) in a letter to Lesley McSpadden, “If they refuse to hear us, we will make them feel us . . . feeling us means feeling our pain; imagining our plight as parents of slain The Professional Counselor Volume 9, Issue 1, Pages 67–79 http://tpcjournal.nbcc.org © 2019 NBCC, Inc. and Affiliates doi:10.15241/jrj.9.1.67 J. Richelle Joe, M. Ann Shillingford-Butler, Seungbin Oh The Experiences of African American Mothers Raising Sons in the Context of #BlackLivesMatter 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.