Mothers of young black men try to protect sons from becoming statistics - The Washington Post

Jolene Ivey, a Maryland state delegate from Prince George’s County and the mother of five boys, founded the organization Mocha Moms to bring black mothers together to support one another in their parenting experiences. Like other mothers, she is concerned that her boys — Alex, 21; David, 18; Julian, 15; Troy, 13; and Aaron, 11 — “reach their full potential, do as well in life as they can, be as happy as they can, make contributions to the world, be good people and grow up in one piece.”

But she is also concerned about some issues that her friends who are white are less likely to face. Ivey and her husband, Glenn, the former two-term state’s attorney in Prince George’s, spent days on pins and needles after one of their sons was accused of a crime he did not commit. Although her son denied wrongdoing and she and her husband confirmed his version of events, authorities cleared him only after a series of text messages proved that he was not the culprit, Ivey said.