Right or Dead Wrong? California State University College Graduate, Karlesha Thurman, 25 Criticized For Breastfeeding Her Daughter At Graduation

After Karlesha Thurman, 25 celebrated her graduation with a photo that she shared with Twitter; this one mother probably didn't think that she would make headline news.

A classmate of Thurman's took a photo of what was supposed to be an innocent moment of a mother nursing her child that sent people across the nation in an uproar.

The 25-year-old who graduated from California State University Long Beach posted the photo of herself feeding her 4-month-old daughter, Aaliyah Saturday night to the comments section of a Facebook page, called Black Women Do BreastFeed, and on Sunday morning life changed.

Thurman received comments from Twitter and Facebook like:

That picture of the girl breast feeding her baby at graduation was not "empowering" at all.

— Mexican Vampire (@lovelylooksz) June 9, 2014

Y'all tryna justify a chick breastfeeding DURING her graduation? Y'all weird #onhere — Teymar® (@Kontra402) June 8, 2014

Not to mention the fact that she took a picture. Like breastfeeding is one thing, at/during a graduation in public is another AND a picture?

— Slim. (@whatdidaprilsay) June 8, 2014

Although Thurman thought she was doing the right thing by feeding her daughter, others felt that she should've removed herself from her public graduation to nurse in private.

After her post got attention from every direction, Thurman found herself in defense mode. According to ABC News, the new mother and graduate said, "I personally have gotten nothing but positive feedback, but the people on Twitter are being very harsh towards the photo."

"I do not care how natural breast feeding is, a college graduation is not the place...decorum, people," tweeted @theSilentGiant.

"I never said not to be proud, but breast pumps exist for a reason! Middle of graduation is not the time to whip breast out," read a post from @urQuel_5dawg.

Thurman continued, "Nobody there had a problem with it," Thurman told ABC News about her breastfeeding during her May 22 graduation ceremony. "I was facing the other graduates. The crowd couldn't see me."

The 25-year-old has since removed the photo. Molly Peterson, manager of Healthcare for Lansinoh, added that,  breastfeeding in public shouldn't be a concern.

"This was a beautiful natural expression of a mother's love for her baby,"  Peterson said.

"Seeing pictures like this is something that normalizes it so that more mothers are able to feed their babies whenever, and wherever, they need to," Peterson added.

The Facebook group, Black Women Do BreastFeed where Thurman shared her photo to, uses the hashtag #normalizebreastfeeding in their posts to spread awareness of mothers breastfeeding. According to their page, they created this awareness as a means to "highlight the many black mothers in the United States (and beyond) who do indeed breastfeed their children."

Thurman, shared the moment of her daughter, Aaliyah in the photo because she says her baby is what helped her get to that day.

When Thurman found out that she was pregnant in her last year of school, she was contemplating dropping out or taking a break, she explained. However, once she gave birth to her daughter, Thurman said she knew she had to finish.

"With me having a better education, I would be more likely to provide her with the things she wants and needs in life," Thurman said.

MStars News wants to know what you think, was Thurman right or wrong to breastfeed her daughter at a public graduation?