Women Build “Wall of Mothers”, Wearing Yellow Shirts in Tear Gas Clouds

A network of mothers have been setting up chapters across the United States to support the Black Lives Matter movement in a fight against racism and police violence.

Following the Wall of Moms’ (WOM) successful first chapter in Portland, Oregon this month, a PDF tool kit has been created to help new WOM chapters get organized. Since then, mothers from at least 22 other cities and states across the nation have launched their own chapters – and the numbers are still rising.

“Our whole purpose is to be witness to the Black Lives Matter protesters and the work that they are doing and the treatment that they receive,” explains Gia Gilk, a mother who’s organized a WOM chapter in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “We use our bodies as a barrier and we amplify their voices, we do what they ask of us.”

The women, wearing bike helmets and yellow t-shirts, gather in unity to protect protesters as they are confronted – but not deterred – by federal officers carrying weapons and deploying tear gas. Gilk emphasizes that while WOM members are not protesters themselves, their mission is to come together and act strictly as supporters of the current civil rights movement.