In this street art that is located at 22 E 2nd St. in New York City, you might need to click on the photo to read the names of the sons. The mothers are Iris Baez, Lesley McSpadden, Gwen Carr, Margarita Rosario, Constance Malcolm, Mamie Till and Kadiatou Diallo. The lead artist Sophia Dawson got right to the heart of the matter. Those Mother's names, their grief and the statement "We Want An Immediate End to Police Brutality And The Murder of Black People" are hard to walk away from untouched.
When I passed by this mural on Sunday, while each name was familiar to me and several more came to mind, with each story tragic replayed, I couldn't help but feel that part of the problem is how many people don't think "Every Mother's Son." How many people think "Other Mother's Sons."
There is little that I can explain or even understand. I'm not sure what actually happened on August 9th in Ferguson, Missouri. I don't know why a grand jury decision was held until 8PM instead of 8AM. But the frustration that leads to people burning down their own community, I think that mural goes a long way in explaining that.