The 2023 Mother’s Day weekend will forever go down in history with the Second Annual Black Mother’s March on the White House. For the second year in a row, African mothers, fathers, parents and caregivers from all around the country descended upon the U.S. capitol in Washington, DC to demand an end to the State sponsored kidnapping and commodification of African children. Facilitated through the foster care and child welfare system, this practice started the moment the first black child was auctioned on the slave block and continues today.
The Black Mother’s March on the White House was co-chaired by President Yejide Orunmila of the African National Women’s Organization (ANWO) and Amanda Wallace, member of ANWO and founder of Operation Stop CPS. Also present for this historical march were black-led organizations: Family Justice Tribe, Twisted Yogi, Movement For Family Power and UpEnd Movement. This march and coalition exists to expose the true parasitic nature of the colonial family regulation system and builds a movement of impacted families, advocates, and organizers united with the mission to destroy it in its entirety.
All of these organizations are committed to the abolishment of this colonial system that attacks and attempts to destroy the black family. This plays a critical role in the overall struggle for the total liberation of all African people throughout the world. We recognize that we as a nation can never be free as long as we are subjected to the State-sponsored human trafficking of our black babies!
Day one of historic march
We began the weekend with movement. On Saturday morning, we met at the United Methodist Building for yoga with Keke Woods, the Twisted Yogi. With Keke’s guidance and an incredible playlist, we worked through each pose shifting the stagnant energy and releasing the trauma held tightly in our bodies. This guided meditation and movement prepared ourselves for the remainder of the weekend and the march to come.
In the afternoon, we reconvened for the Beyond The Veil Art Installation. We entered the building, greeted by the sound of African drums and were taken through an immersive art experience meant to explore the reality of having your child taken away by the State. The tour started off with a brief interview with co-chairs President Yejide and Comrade Amanda. They were joined by impacted parents Mashai and Justice Small who shared their struggle to reclaim their children.
Each room of the building had been transformed into different rooms telling a story. The first room was a courtroom and auction block which drew the line to the historical origins of the colonial family regulation system and the family courts of today. Upon entering the room we were confronted with a large blown-up image depicting the sale of the black family. There was an entire family of Africans standing on the slave auction block with slave masters standing around waiting to place their bid. To the right of the image was a notice for the auction that read “Negros For Sale.”
Then, we watched the footage of baby Zephaniah being ripped away from his mother, Mrs. Sellers, in the hospital. An audio recording was played and we heard a judge carelessly denying a mother’s parental rights. In the next room we were confronted with the results of those court proceedings, which is an empty child’s room. The empty child’s room is morphed into a visitation room with broken toys and a two-way window. A trail of stolen children’s shoes winded around the room representing every African child stolen by the system.
The tour ended with a healing circle led by ANWO member Nicole Chung. After some deep breathing and a writing exercise we came to a deeper understanding of the true nature of the colonial family regulation system, the economic component of the child welfare industry and its relationship to colonial capitalism.
Day two pre-march rally
Nearly 200 people assembled in Lafayette Square Park located across from the White House. Many children, parents and organizers made the trip from cities all across the country including Portland, Oregon; St Louis, Missouri; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Washington, DC; San Diego, California and Durham, North Carolina. Prior to setting up for the day, the U.S. secret service searched through our equipment while President Yejide led the mothers through the chants. It was so beautiful and empowering to hear the mothers sing together and getting louder and louder. You could feel their warrior energy as if they were about to go into battle!
Comrade Rage welcomed the crowd with enthusiasm and introduced speakers to the stage.
The March begins
The eager protesters began marching at 1:30 PM, moving through the streets of downtown DC carrying signs that said, “A Black Child Was Kidnapped Today, Stop CPS Now!” and chanting, “CPS You Can’t Hide, We Charge You With Genocide!”
Passing cars showed their support for the march by honking their horns, while people on the streets took pictures.
As the final leg of the march rounded 16th Street NW, down Black Lives Matter Plaza, with the White House in the distance, the chants grew louder—shouting, “Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! CPS Has Got to Go!” and “When Black Families Are Under Attack, What Do We Do? Stand Up, Fight Back!”
Post-march rally
The committee members came to the stage to share their final thoughts and opened up the floor for impacted parents to share their experiences. Chairman Omali Yeshitela introduced Mike Africa Jr. who is a survivor of the attack on the MOVE family in Philadelphia including 11 people bombed and killed in their home. All of the surviving children were placed in foster care. This was devastating to the family and the intent was to destroy a self-determining black family community. Mike Africa Jr. and the remaining family members keep fighting to reclaim what was taken from them by the State and unite with the movement to end the so-called child protective services.
The organizers of the march celebrated by going to a black-owned workspace named Ipade’ and enjoyed some traditional African foods like stewed goat, jollof rice, lentils and plantains. A clear takeaway from this particular Black Mothers March was that the parents were fierce and determined to get their children back from the colonial State by any means necessary.
Next steps
The Second Annual Black Mothers March on the White House was a huge success with a growing number of participants, powerful speakers, a healing circle, yoga and a memorable art installation. We are growing and we look forward to next year’s Black Mothers March.
Find out more about the #ArrestCPS campaign. Stay connected at BlackMothersMarch.com and Black Mothers March on Instagram.
To volunteer with ANWO, contact us at arrestcps@anwouhuru.org.
Stop Kidnapping Black Children!
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