( CNN ) The Baltimore mother who slapped her son several times and pulled him out of a protest told CNN on Wednesday she was n't concerned that she might be embarrassing her son . `` Not at all , '' Toya Graham told CNN 's `` Anderson Cooper 360˚ '' in an interview that aired Wednesday night . `` He was embarrassing himself by wearing that mask and that hoodie and doing what he was doing . '' The video of Graham yanking her son , Michael Singleton , and slapping him with a right hand as CNN affiliate WMAR recorded has led to the Internet calling Graham # motheroftheyear . Many people have praised the unemployed , single mother of six for going to the Mondawmin Mall and getting her son away from the escalating violence . Graham told Cooper that she saw her son with a brick in his hand , and she lost control of her emotions and told him to drop it . Wednesday night : Across United States , protests in support of Baltimore demonstrators . `` I did ( get emotional ) . You know , once he threw that rock down I said , 'You were n't brought up like this , ' `` Graham said . He 's not a perfect child , but he 's also not a thug , she said . The 16-year-old boy said he understood that his mother was there looking out for him . `` She did n't want me to get in trouble ( with the ) law . She did n't want me to be like another Freddie Gray , '' he said , referring to the 25-year-old man who died of a severe spinal injury after being arrested by Baltimore police . Gray 's death has sparked daily protests over police brutality . There have also been riots and looting that prompted the city to put a curfew into effect . Graham said her son told her the night before the violence at the mall that something was up . She told him then and the next morning not to go . He swore to her he would n't . Her motherly sense kicked in when she heard school had closed early and the mall was shutting down , too . She went to the mall and focused on the teens who were tossing rocks and bricks . There he was , in sweatpants she recognized . They made eye contact . He had a brick in his hand , and that set her off . Wednesday night : Marchers back in the streets of Baltimore . `` I was so angry with him that he had made a decision to do some harm to the police officers , '' she said . She yelled at him to put the brick down . Singleton said he had seen her , but it did n't make sense that his mother would be there . But when he heard her voice , he realized it really was his mom -- and he was in big trouble . Then the camera captured her memorable smackdown . `` It was just World War III from right there , '' he said , showing some humor about the incident . Graham noticed the TV crew but did n't think anything of it . And she did n't care . `` I was n't there to be recorded . I was there to get my child , '' she said . Tameka Brown , one of Graham 's five daughters , told CNN on Tuesday it was n't that hard for her mom to spot her 16-year-old half-brother . `` She knows her son and picked him out . Even with the mask on , she knew , '' Brown said . Brown said her mother is always looking out for her children . `` She has always been tough and knows where we are at , '' Brown said . Graham said she tries to steer her son away from potential trouble and troublemakers . `` As long as I have breath in my body I will always try to do right by Michael and show him what 's going on out in society does n't have to be you , '' she told CNN . Her son said that once they got home from the mall he understood why she pulled him out of the crowd . `` I was embarrassed a little bit , until she just started talking to me when we got home , '' he said . `` ( She was ) just telling me she did it because she cared about me . And it was n't to embarrass me , but because she cared . '' CNN 's Elise Miller and AnneClaire Stapleton contributed to this report . Watch Anderson Cooper 360° weeknights 8pm ET . For the latest from AC360° click here .
Video of Toya , going to a protest and forcefully removing her underwear went viral , drew a lot of controversy . The single mother of mercy tells CNN her husband was upset that he was n't brought up that way . Michael Singleton says he thinks his mom was trying to protect him .