On a difficult holiday, mothers create bonds through shared loss of children to violence

After Octavia Mitchell lost her son in 2010, she said she couldn’t celebrate Mother’s Day for 10 years. She’d spend the entire day in bed, she said, unable to get up.

But, four years ago, Mitchell decided she was losing out on celebrating the day with her other children. So, she dedicated the day to celebrating herself and other mothers who have lost their children to gun violence. Mitchell’s son was fatally wounded by Chicago police officers on the South Side during a 2010 traffic stop.