Keeping children safe generally involves a mother protecting her child(ren) from other adults who may harm them, but it can also involve keeping her child safe from other children. Because he appears feminine, or “soft,” to his peers, Chiron is often called a “faggot,” and is consistently picked on and beaten up throughout the movie. Although she is aware of the bullying, Paula is not able to protect her son from the other children, nor does she appear to make any attempt to do so. For Paula to be seen as a good mother, she would have to somehow prevent her child from getting beat up, even though she essentially has no control of the situation. However, Paula’s race, class, and drug-addiction, all set up Chiron’s bullying as a direct outcome of her failures as a …show more content…
Chiron’s mother is not alone in her struggle with addiction, as thousands of people became addicted to crack cocaine during this period of time. With the rise of drug-addicted mothers in impoverished neighborhoods, the role of othermothers became increasingly important. As Collins writes in Black Feminist Thought, “othermothers…traditionally have been central to the institution of Black motherhood” (Collins, 192). Grandmothers, extended family, or neighbors would step in to raise a child when the mother became addicted to drugs, perpetuating the idea that Black women cannot raise children on their own. The War on Drugs, and the classed and raced implications behind it, was crucial in shaping the belief that Black women are bad