Amid Baltimore's Chaos, a Model Mother

SAN DIEGO -- Toya Graham has earned one heck of a Mother's Day present.

Not only did the Baltimore mother do the right thing last week by confronting her wayward son, Michael, when she saw the 16-year-old in the middle of a street protest holding a brick. But, since becoming an overnight celebrity, Graham has had to suffer fools who are only too eager to second-guess her method of keeping the young man on the straight and narrow in a crime-ridden neighborhood where, she says, a parent is never sure if her child will come home safe at night.

The unemployed single mother of six waded into the chaos to look for her son. There, she saw a young man in a hoodie. And although he was wearing a mask, she recognized him. Video footage shows Graham furiously grabbing her son's sweater, shouting at him, and shoving him toward her car. It also shows her slapping him in the head. The young man was in full retreat, trying to get away from his mother.

Graham would later tell reporters that all Michael could say at the time was "OK, Mom. OK." Michael told CNN's Anderson Cooper that, once his mother got her hands on him, "it was World War III." And a lopsided battle at that. The young man took a serious beating.

Now for the fools, many of whom have gathered on Twitter to offer unsolicited opinions.

-- One tweet said that Graham is "whats wrong with america. 6 kids, no fathers stuck around, no job."

-- Another declared: "it disgusts me how many black women are applauding what was none other than the desensitizing of a young black man's masculinity."

-- A third insisted: "Either Toya Graham gets her 6 kids taken away ... or CLOSE DOWN CPS [Child Protective Services]!"

A freelance contributor to The Washington Post's website described how Graham became a hero: "In this country, when black mothers fulfill stereotypes of mammies, angry and thwarting resistance to a system designed to kill their children, they get praised."

Really? Some writers cover issues; but this one obviously has a few of her own. This story isn't about mammies. It's about mommies. How dare anyone judge this woman.

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