Portland’s Wall of Moms has apparently fallen apart, after one of its founders decided to capitalize on the group’s new-found fame without the approval of other members of leadership. Pardon me, I’m going to need an industrial size vat of popcorn for this.
Hey team, by now y'all have heard about the drama unfolding. Lots of us are trying to regroup and do things the right way. No official announcements yet – standby. #BlackLivesMatter
— WOM OFFICIAL (@WallOfMoms) July 29, 2020
That founder, Bev Barnum, filed for three separate business registrations on Tuesday, including one application for 501(c)(3) status. She did this without the knowledge of other leaders, leading to explosive accusations that the white leaders of WOM had failed to keep their promise to secure black members during the Portland riots.
Portland Mayor Sets the Stage for Never-Ending Riots
From OregonLive:
Portland Wall of Moms, a group formed in recent weeks and quickly recognized as a staple of nightly downtown protests, was accused publicly Wednesday of “anti-Blackness” by leaders of an existing, Black-led community group.
Wall of Moms, whose members said they aimed to support and protect other Black Lives Matter protesters near the fence in front of the federal courthouse, announced Friday that its white leadership had rescinded their positions to allow women of color to be in charge. New leaders announced Friday include Teressa Raiford, executive director of Don’t Shoot Portland, Demetria Hester and Danialle James.
But less than a week later, Don’t Shoot Portland took to Instagram to urge people against supporting the Wall of Moms, saying that it was no longer working with the moms group.
The post reads:
EDIT FOR EVERYONE UPSET ABOUT THIS POST: WE ARE NOT AGAINST MOMS! EVERYONE HAS A PLACE IN ORGANIZING. WE ARE NO LONGER IN SUPPORT OF WOM LEADERSHIP.
ANTI-BLACKNESS. DO NOT SUPPORT @wallofmoms #WALLOFMOMS.
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After leaving vulnerable Black women downtown after marching, failing to support those on the ground that put trust in them, @wallofmoms leadership also found time to make THREE registrations through Oregon’s Secretary of State. This was all done in privacy and without the knowledge of the Black leadership WOM was claiming to implement. The lies are finally clear and we are sad but ultimately not surprised that anti-Blackness showed it’s ugly face with Wall of Moms. This all came to light over the last 24 hours – We began having safety concerns within the group because Black women started saying they were not protected by WOM leadership. Too frequently would be in communication for safety, transport etc and when the time came, there would be zero response and no leadership to rely on. It’s put many on the ground in direct danger. Once these registration filings with Secretary of State came out, it became more clear – WOM was not started for BLM, but to get the feds out of PDX. None of the Black leadership WOM claimed to implement knew about this. Combined with a lack of care for and disregard of Black women, we were used to further an agenda unrelated to BLM.
Please do not support this organization anymore. We need everyone to show up against racism, but it’s even more crucial to prioritize transparency and accountability.
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The Wall of Moms
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http://egov.sos.state.or.us/br/pkg_web_name_srch_inq.show_detl?p_be_rsn=2147737&p_srce=BR_INQ&p_print=FALSEThe Wall of Moms PAC
http://egov.sos.state.or.us/br/pkg_web_name_srch_inq.show_detl?p_be_rsn=2148001&p_srce=BR_INQ&p_print=FALSE
AND Wall of Moms as an entity name:
http://egov.sos.state.or.us/br/pkg_web_name_srch_inq.show_detl?p_be_rsn=2147267&p_srce=BR_INQ&p_print=FALSE
Don’t Shoot PDX is a Black Lives Matter-affiliated group formed in Portland in the wake of the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Mo., in 2014. Evidently, the white leadership of WOM agreed to give up their roles in favor of elevating black women as leaders. The business filings by Barnum were done without the knowledge of these new black leaders. Don’t Shoot PDX accused WOM of being more focused on protesting Trump and federal law enforcement in Portland than on black lives and BLM.
OregonLive had a few extra details:
In a comment Barnum appeared to post Wednesday morning on the private Wall of Moms Facebook group, she addressed the situation.
“The announcement of the 501c3 really hurt some of you,” she wrote. “That was never my intention. In fact, it was just the opposite. WOM will be led by a BIPOC board and BIPOC advisor committee. WOM is a group that supports BLM, not a BLM group. If that is not good enough for you, please feel free to leave this group. And if you currently volunteer your time, please feel free to leave your positions.”
A new Facebook group has formed called Moms United for Black Lives. A post from Faith Lightsy, a member of the group said she and others are in contact with Raiford, Hester and James to figure out what to do next.
“This group is only a few hours old with 3k members already…please be patient with us. I am in direct contact with Teressa and she has asked repeatedly this group be centered around Demetria and Danialle,” the post read.
So, to break this down, essentially the Wall of Moms was not sufficiently black, and not sufficiently woke, and not sufficiently supportive of BLM.
Hey, Portland, it was fun while it lasted.
Jeff Reynolds is the author of the book, “Behind the Curtain: Inside the Network of Progressive Billionaires and Their Campaign to Undermine Democracy,” available at www.WhoOwnsTheDems.com. Jeff hosts a podcast at anchor.fm/BehindTheCurtain. You can follow him on Twitter @ChargerJeff, and on Parler at @RealJeffReynolds.
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