CBS Features 'Hero Mom' from Baltimore Riots

The mother who made headlines for pulling her teen from the riots near Mondawmin Mall in April shared with CBS News Monday that life has not gotten easier since the riots.

The TV station was following up with Toya Graham now that it has been six months since Freddie Gray died in police custody. His April 19 death was a flashpoint for tension between police and citizens in Baltimore.

See the segment on CBS This Morning.

Graham’s son was among those participating outside Mondawmin Mall in what became the first of several riots.

After Graham pulled her masked son from the fray and slapped him on the head, she was hailed by some as a hero.

“I don’t feel like a hero mom. I never did. He’s my son,” said Graham, who is 43 and a mother of six. “If I have to be out there to stop him from doing things that he shouldn’t be doing, then that’s what I’m going to do.”

Hero or not, CBS This Morning described the scene of Graham slapping her son as “one of the most iconic moments” of the riots.

Do you think there was an “iconic” moment of the Baltimore riots? Tell us in the comments.

• VIDEO: Mom’s Response to Child in Baltimore Riots Goes Viral
• Mom Who Dispensed Tough Lough During Riots Hits Morning TV

Nearly six months later, Graham said that just because cameras have left doesn’t mean the problems have too.

“We’re struggling,” Graham told CBS This Morning. “I don’t know what the future will hold for me.” She said it was hard putting food on the table, and she is fighting to keep her house.

Her son said that he had a friend gunned down recently, and he doesn’t know if he will survive one day to the next.

Graham said she was “just trying to provide” and that when she hears her son come home at night, what she feels is “relief.”

See the segment on CBS This Morning featuring Toya Graham.

In addition to families, the volatility left in the wake of the Baltimore riots has left question marks on the minds of business owners.

The day Graham’s interview aired on CBS This Morning, the Baltimore Business Journal reported that the Camden Pub is for sale on Pratt Street. “I don’t want this for my kids,” the owner told the Baltimore Business Journal.

The owner of the pub, which has been around for more than two decades, told the newspaper he was selling in part because his business was hit by the riots and he wanted to get out before further potential fallout.

Six officers charged in Gray’s death face trial starting at the end of November. Before the trials begin, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said that police will be equipped with new riot gear, in case of any potential unrest, The Baltimore Sun reported.