Baltimore Mom Who Smacked Sense Into Her Rioting Son Worried Her Pastor "Would Have a Fit!"

Teresa Neumann : Apr 30, 2015
Jason Silverstein – New York Daily News

The video of Toya Graham smacking down her son during the recent Baltimore riots has become a "national sensation," rekindling the debate of how far a parent can, and must, go at times to discipline their children. The general consensus so far? You go, girl!

(Baltimore, MD)—Toya Graham, a single mother of six, has skyrocketed to fame as America's "Mom of the Year" after a video of her forcefully reigning in her rioting son during recent demonstrations in Baltimore went viral. (Photo via NY Daily News/CBS News)

The video shows Graham pulling her son's ski mask off his head and whacking him as she yells, "I told you I'd come down here. Didn't I? Didn't I! ...You will not be throwing rocks and stones at police officers. Who's to say they don't have to come and protect me from something?"

From television morning shows to talk radio, Graham's now famous flailing of her 16-year-old son was discussed. Surprisingly, given the modern push against corporal punishment of children, most pundits justified and even applauded the mother's desperate measures.

Speaking with CBS, Graham claims she "lost it" when she saw her son carrying a rock and walking toward police officers. "Is he a perfect boy?" she asked. "No, he's not. But he's mine. That's my only son and at the end of the day, I don't want him to be another Freddie Gray."

An ABC report noted that the mother was still so distraught the next day that she couldn't even go to work. When she first saw the video of her chasing down her son, she worried her pastor was would "have a fit."(Photo via NY Daily News/CBS News)

But Graham's pastor, Jamal Bryant, told Inside Edition that he was anything but upset by her behavior. In fact, he called her "Mom of the Century," saying, "I wish all of the parents of Baltimore would take on her spirit and go pull [their] children out of the streets."

"I hope I don't do anything wrong in front of her," he joked. "I don't want her choking me out of pulling me out! She's no holds barred. Those are the kind of moms we used to have, that we need to have again."