Bring Ra Home
My Sun and Newborn Daughter have been unjustly taken from me by CPS & Florida Authorities. Your help is needed.
Peace and Love. My name is Syesha Mercado, I’m a mother, singer, songwriter, and creative entrepreneur who has had success on Broadway and as a 2nd place runner-up on Season 7 of American Idol. My proudest accomplishment in life is being a Mommy to my beautiful baby boy, Amen’Ra and new baby girl, Ast.
My partner Tyron is an educator and youth service professional working in the Foster system, and we need your support to support our efforts in getting our babies back and also, to help raise awareness of something that has gone unnoticed for too long.
BABY AMEN’RA
Our sun Amen’Ra is a captivating spirit, a beautiful light, with eyes bright like the sun. He brightens up any room with his vibrant smile. He absolutely loves being in nature, his mommy reading to him, playing his djembe drums, and listening to his favorite album on the record player, Bob Marley. He especially loves the songs, One Love, Lively Up Yourself, and Crazy Baldheads.
On March 11th, 2021 our sun Amen’Ra was forcefully taken from us by CPS, who claim we refused a B12 shot that was a matter of life and death, which is an absolute lie. We never refused a B12 shot, and at no point was he on the verge of death. Our Sun was then placed with a foster family without interviewing qualified relatives or friends of our family for placement while they investigate. He was later moved to another caretaker. At the time of being taken from us, he was 15 months old and I had recently discovered I was pregnant. My milk supply got low, and I went to Johns Hopkins All Children’s hospital to get some help, but was forcee left without my baby.
BABY AST
On August 1, I gave birth, at home, to our beautiful happy and healthy baby girl. She ushered in so much peace to our hearts. We named her Ast, which means “the gathering/ coming together…” On August 11, while we were on our way to the Sheriff’s office to do a wellness check, we were surrounded by flashing lights and armed officers, who unjustly took Ast from me on the side of the road, exposing her to all kinds of dangers, with all these strangers around her. Now, I can’t bond with my babby girl and meditate with her on my chest, I can't hold my newborn daughter whenever she cries, or give her the breast milk that my body has produced for her very existence. My body feels when she is hungry, but I don't get to experience the joy of feeding her. I’m missing the most tender moments of her life. This is a nightmare and every second of every day until they Bring our Babies home.
Our truth will shine a light on the cracks in the system that our babies fall through. Too many mothers are crying, every night, unseen, unknown, unheard, for our babies that are in places where they don't belong. #BringOurBabiesHome
RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
The Manatee County Commissioner recently declared that “ Racism is a county public health crisis.” Our son Amen’Ra is a prime example of that. My family and I are just one in countless other stories of the taking of children from caring parents that go unheard and unseen.
The racial discrimination that our community is facing right now is focused on Police Brutality because of the visibility and documentation. But we don’t think about the other forms of systematic oppression that come as a sub-set. In particular, the Victimization of our children through the Foster Care System. They become the forgotten ones, falling through the cracks because mothers and fathers are too afraid to take on the gigantic task of standing up to a way of thinking and laws that are steeped in colonial times. Parents are coerced to sign plans and documents under mental duress, essentially signing away their rights to a system that doesn't love or understand us.
HOW TO SUPPORT
We are calling out to our Tribe! We have decided to lift our Voice in defense of our Sun and Daughter, and our ComeUnity. We Demand to be Heard. “Bring Ra and Ast Home!” They both have a loving family waiting anxiously for their return. We will NOT stop fighting this unjust system until they are safely in our arms.
Please donate what you can and share it with your friends! Our legal fees are mounting, and will continue to increase as the case comes to the courts. We need finances to prepare with second opinions on our medical documents and other costs in the campaign to “Bring Ra and Ast Home!”
Share our posts & videos. Help us bring awareness to the case however you can!
Connect with us if you have any resources that can be useful to Bring Ra and Ast Home!
No mother, father, or child should ever have to experience being forcefully separated the way that we have been. We know our Sun and Daughter are Strong and Protected by so much Light and Prayer, and trust our situation will help to bring urgent attention and calls for accountability to the increasing incidence of racial and cultural discrimination in the child welfare system, and the trauma it creates within our community and within our homes.
Please help us Bring Ra and Ast Home!
Thank you for your support.
Syesha
Peace and Love. My name is Syesha Mercado, I’m a mother, singer, songwriter, and creative entrepreneur who has had success on Broadway and as a 2nd place runner-up on Season 7 of American Idol. My proudest accomplishment in life is being a Mommy to my beautiful baby boy, Amen’Ra and new baby girl, Ast.
My partner Tyron is an educator and youth service professional working in the Foster system, and we need your support to support our efforts in getting our babies back and also, to help raise awareness of something that has gone unnoticed for too long.
BABY AMEN’RA
Our sun Amen’Ra is a captivating spirit, a beautiful light, with eyes bright like the sun. He brightens up any room with his vibrant smile. He absolutely loves being in nature, his mommy reading to him, playing his djembe drums, and listening to his favorite album on the record player, Bob Marley. He especially loves the songs, One Love, Lively Up Yourself, and Crazy Baldheads.
On March 11th, 2021 our sun Amen’Ra was forcefully taken from us by CPS, who claim we refused a B12 shot that was a matter of life and death, which is an absolute lie. We never refused a B12 shot, and at no point was he on the verge of death. Our Sun was then placed with a foster family without interviewing qualified relatives or friends of our family for placement while they investigate. He was later moved to another caretaker. At the time of being taken from us, he was 15 months old and I had recently discovered I was pregnant. My milk supply got low, and I went to Johns Hopkins All Children’s hospital to get some help, but was forcee left without my baby.
BABY AST
On August 1, I gave birth, at home, to our beautiful happy and healthy baby girl. She ushered in so much peace to our hearts. We named her Ast, which means “the gathering/ coming together…” On August 11, while we were on our way to the Sheriff’s office to do a wellness check, we were surrounded by flashing lights and armed officers, who unjustly took Ast from me on the side of the road, exposing her to all kinds of dangers, with all these strangers around her. Now, I can’t bond with my babby girl and meditate with her on my chest, I can't hold my newborn daughter whenever she cries, or give her the breast milk that my body has produced for her very existence. My body feels when she is hungry, but I don't get to experience the joy of feeding her. I’m missing the most tender moments of her life. This is a nightmare and every second of every day until they Bring our Babies home.
Our truth will shine a light on the cracks in the system that our babies fall through. Too many mothers are crying, every night, unseen, unknown, unheard, for our babies that are in places where they don't belong. #BringOurBabiesHome
RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
The Manatee County Commissioner recently declared that “ Racism is a county public health crisis.” Our son Amen’Ra is a prime example of that. My family and I are just one in countless other stories of the taking of children from caring parents that go unheard and unseen.
The racial discrimination that our community is facing right now is focused on Police Brutality because of the visibility and documentation. But we don’t think about the other forms of systematic oppression that come as a sub-set. In particular, the Victimization of our children through the Foster Care System. They become the forgotten ones, falling through the cracks because mothers and fathers are too afraid to take on the gigantic task of standing up to a way of thinking and laws that are steeped in colonial times. Parents are coerced to sign plans and documents under mental duress, essentially signing away their rights to a system that doesn't love or understand us.
HOW TO SUPPORT
We are calling out to our Tribe! We have decided to lift our Voice in defense of our Sun and Daughter, and our ComeUnity. We Demand to be Heard. “Bring Ra and Ast Home!” They both have a loving family waiting anxiously for their return. We will NOT stop fighting this unjust system until they are safely in our arms.
Please donate what you can and share it with your friends! Our legal fees are mounting, and will continue to increase as the case comes to the courts. We need finances to prepare with second opinions on our medical documents and other costs in the campaign to “Bring Ra and Ast Home!”
Share our posts & videos. Help us bring awareness to the case however you can!
Connect with us if you have any resources that can be useful to Bring Ra and Ast Home!
No mother, father, or child should ever have to experience being forcefully separated the way that we have been. We know our Sun and Daughter are Strong and Protected by so much Light and Prayer, and trust our situation will help to bring urgent attention and calls for accountability to the increasing incidence of racial and cultural discrimination in the child welfare system, and the trauma it creates within our community and within our homes.
Please help us Bring Ra and Ast Home!
Thank you for your support.
Syesha
