Nanays and Ma Baker

By Alex P. Vidal

“My doctor told me I would never walk again. My mother told me I would. I believed my mother.”— Wilma Rudolph

MOTHERS or Pinoy nanays who come to the rescue of their embattled children (mostly sons) will always take the bullet to save them.

Like Judy Araneta-Roxas, who insisted her son, former Rep. Dinggoy, younger brother of former Senator Mar, died of colon cancer, and not of drug overdose; Mayor Lydia Grabato, who claimed that her son, Rey II, was the “victim” and not the perpetrator of an alleged $650 million Ponzi scheme in New Jersey; former First Lady Imelda Marcos, who argued that her son, President Bongbong Jr., never used drugs; the late diva Claire dela Fuente, who asserted that her son, Gigo, did not rape the dead stewardess Christine Dacera; and the latest, Ate Vi or Vilma Santos, who cried that her son, Luis Manzano, is “hindi manloloko” (not a con artist), among other cases.

“It’s not easy. I am sorry. It’s not easy. Mahirap din kasi kung minsan it’s your job to do good, to show people that you’re comfortable but deep inside you are hurting,” she said. “And the only thing I can say is I know my son. Ang anak ko ay tumutulong, hindi nanloloko. Kaya ‘yung mga nagsasalita at naghuhusga sa kanya, dahan-dahan lang kayo. Walang ibang nakakakilala sa anak ko kung hindi ako. And I know he is such a good person.”

But let me introduce Kate Barker, popularly known as Ma Barker, a ruthless crime matriarch who controlled and organized her sons’ crimes.

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Ma Barker (interestingly Boney M, a popular German-Caribbean vocal group immortalized her story in a 1977 song, “Ma Baker” by removing the letter r in the Barker), was the mother of several criminals in the United States who ran the Barker–Karpis Gang during the “public enemy era” when the exploits of gangs of criminals in the Midwestern United States gripped the American people and press.

While the above-mentioned mothers defended their sons from ugly accusation, Ma Barker traveled with her sons during their criminal careers.

The activities of the gang, which included her sons the “Bloody Barkers”—Herman (1894–1927), Arthur, known as “Doc” (1899–1939), and Fred (1902–35)—ranged from bank robbery and kidnapping throughout the Midwestern United States from Minnesota to Texas.

All met violent deaths. Ma Barker and Fred were killed at a Florida resort in a gun battle with the FBI, Arthur was killed in an attempted escape from Alcatraz, and Herman, cornered by Kansas police, shot himself. A fourth brother, Lloyd (1896–1949), a loner, spent 25 years in Leavenworth prison (1922–47) and, after release, was killed by his wife. (The father of the Barker boys, George Barker, was never a gang member and was abandoned by Ma Barker in 1927.)

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I invite the readers to listen to Boney M’s Ma Baker. Its music video can be accessed in the Youtube. This is one of my all-time Boney M favorites as a teenager; most of you will surely love this heart-stopping song:

Freeze I’m ma Baker

Put your hands in the air and give me all your money

This is the story of ma Baker the meanest cat from old Chicago town

She was the meanest cat

In old Chicago town

She was the meanest cat

She really mowed them down

She had no heart at all

No no no heart at all

She was the meanest cat

For she was really tough

She left her husband flat

He wasn’t tough enough

She took her boys along

‘Cause they were mean and strong

Ma ma ma ma Ma Baker

She taught her four sons Ma ma ma ma

Ma Baker To handle their guns

Ma ma ma ma Ma Baker

She never could cry

Ma ma ma ma Ma Baker

But she knew how to die

They left a trail of crime

Across the USA And when one boy was killed

She really made them pay She had no heart at all

No no no heart at all Ma ma ma ma Ma Baker

She taught her four sons Ma ma ma ma Ma Baker

To handle their guns Ma ma ma ma Ma Baker

She never could cry Ma ma ma ma

Ma Baker But she knew how to die

She met a man she liked She thought she’d stay with him

One day he informed on them They did away with him

She didn’t care at all Just didn’t care at all

Here is a special bulletin Ma Baker is the FBI’s most wanted woman

Her photo is hanging on every post office wall

If you have any information about this woman

Please contact the nearest police station

Don’t anybody move the money or your lives

One day they robbed a bank

It was last foray The cops appeared to soon

They couldn’t get away With all the loot they had

It made them mighty mad And so they shot it out

Ma Baker and her sons They didn’t want to hang

They died with blazing guns And so the story ends

Of one who left no friends Ma ma ma ma

Ma Baker She taught her four sons Ma ma ma ma

Ma Baker To handle their guns Ma ma ma ma

Ma Baker She never could cry Ma ma ma ma

Ma Baker But she knew how to die

Ma ma ma ma Ma Baker She taught her four sons

Ma ma ma ma Ma Baker To handle their guns Ma ma ma ma

Ma Baker She never could cry Ma ma ma ma

Ma Baker But she knew how to die 

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo.—Ed)