The parents take over

Toya Graham instantly became America’s favorite parent on Monday when she walked up to her son, yanked his black mask off, and pulled him out of a Baltimore riot (mature language used).

“I’m a single mom, and I have six children, and I just choose not to live like that no more. And I don’t want that for him,” Graham said.

Related: Schools reopen in Baltimore, streets quiet after curfew

“I don’t want him to be a Freddie Gray. But to stand up there and vandalize police officers, that’s not justice,” Graham said.

There is still plenty of anger over the death of Freddie Gray &#8212 after being arrested for what we still don’t know &#8212 but it became obvious Monday night that there was a force stronger than anger in Baltimore – and it was parents.

Not just Toya Graham, but the parents who formed a human buffer line standing arm in arm to keep protesters away from the police.

Even gang members stood arm in arm – one of them telling CNN he was insulted that anyone would even think they were behind the looting.

“We aren’t worried about no looting because we make money,” he said. “We make money to get what we want. We gonna look good; we ain’t gonna go loot a store.”

Got that? They have money. Why would they steal? Where they get the money wasn’t mentioned, but he actually seemed hurt that anyone would think a gang would need to go looting.

Baltimore City Council Member Brandon Scott, the man who called on the parents to come out, offered a little parenting advice.

“Too many people come at these young kids and try to tell them to do all these things at once, ‘pull up your pants,’ ‘change your music,’ ‘change your hairstyle,’ ‘do this.’ Nobody asks them the basic questions like, ‘what’s your name. I love you.’

The police will present their first report on the Freddie Gray incident to prosecutors on Friday. Parents should probably be on standby.