Moms Demand Action is larger than the NRA with 6 million supporters and volunteers who “really will stop at nothing to change our nation’s culture of gun violence,” says its founder, Shannon Watts.
It was such an honor to talk to these two mamas, Calandrian Simpson-Kemp and Shannon Watts, about their experiences on the frontlines in the near-decade of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. We are still feeling all kinds of inspired.
Moms Demand Action is a force to be reckoned with. They have passed background checks in 21 states, red-flag laws in 19 states, and 29 states have passed laws that have taken guns away from domestic abusers. 20 states have also closed something called the Charleston Loophole, (the background check system which enabled the gunman who murdered nine people while they participated in a Bible study in Charleston, SC in 2015). Moms Demand Action has also passed secure gun storage laws in 11 states, and 13 states have passed meaningful police reform and accountability bills.
“We have to remember that police violence is also gun violence,” says Shannon Watts.
Shannon and Calandrian drop truth bombs and show all of us the power that moms have to make a difference.
“What we have accomplished has been nothing short of astounding,” says Shannon. “We were David to the NRA’s Goliath, and we are beating Goliath.”
What did you love most about episode 33? What experiences throughout your own journey of motherhood have empowered you to demand action? ✊❤️
"Jo and I had talked about wanting to make a family, and of course as a queer family that requires intention,” says Martha.
Martha had known ever since she was little that adoption would be the way that her family was formed.
“So, we had been together like a year and a half, and Jo’s mom called. We were not pursuing becoming parents at this point. So, she pulled over on the side of the highway and she goes, ‘Honey, I have found your baby.’ And Jo was like, ‘Mother, you’re totally nuts. I’ll talk to you later.’
And she called back and she was like, ‘No your niece’s friend is pregnant and she needs to place this baby, and Courtney has told her about you guys, and Mackenzie wants to meet you.’
We had our first phone call with Mackenzie sitting on the patio at Matt’s El Rancho, and we just talked. She invited us to come to her next doctor’s appointment. This was August, and we had thought she’s due in January or February, great. Let’s go to college station, let’s meet Mackenzie, and we’ll see what this is all about... It feels like a first date, but the most important first date of your life,” says Martha.
Martha and Jo got to the doctor’s office in college station thinking Mackenzie probably wasn’t due for a while.
“We look at her and go ‘Oh she probably isn’t due until March, she’s so tiny.’ And we go into the appointment with her and she has her belly exposed and they’re doing the sonogram, and the doctor looks at us and he says, ‘Well, I hope y’all have your nursery ready. She’s three centimeters dilated.”
Listen to episode 31 to hear the rest of Martha’s adoption story; a story that is quite possibly better than any movie we’ve seen!
Do you have an adoption story of your own?💚
Already a week overdue, Cristina did everything she could to get Santi to come out.
“I was not a happy pregnant person,” says Cristina. “I remember telling my partner Manuel the last few weeks, ‘If I ever tell you that I want to have another child, you are to tell me ‘Absolutely Not,’ because this is torture.’ I’m so uncomfortable, I can’t sleep. I can’t walk. I can’t breathe. I can’t move…
I’m terrified of blood, so I wore an eye mask the entire time I was pushing, and I totally did drugs (because I’m not as tough as Muna). I told the doctors, ‘Whatever you do don’t tell me how close he is, just tell me when to push. I don’t want to know anything because I will freak out.’ And I was training myself to breathe so I wouldn’t cry or get emotional or anything, and then they were like, ‘He’s here! Do you want to hold him?’
I pulled off my mask and I remember he was this little thing, and I picked him up, and I didn’t cry at all. I thought I was going to bawl, but I was so exhausted that I couldn’t force any emotion.”
When Cristina looks at who Santi was then compared to who he is now, she is so thankful there are pictures to capture these years of immense growth.
“There is no way that I would remember how he looked then because it was so transformative. This was a little time period, but it was really a crazy and wild time. The wildest thing for me was the transformation we’ve gone through.”
“I decided that I wanted to have a natural birth. Not because of the pressure from other people on what’s best, but because I had just had knee surgery," says Muna.
"I never fully recovered from that surgery… So I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, if I end up needing a C-section and I’m cut open from hip 1 to hip 2, what if I don’t recover?!’ My brother is an anesthesiologist and he really tried to talk me out of the natural route. He was like ‘You always have to make things difficult!’ Muna laughs. “It was the typical older sibling who has to tell you what to do and have a fight with you right before you go into labor. I had a doula, and we were all super excitable, and I think I started contractions at 10 pm. I think my labor was a sum total of 12 hours, but I didn’t go to the hospital until 6 am, and then I was only there for about 4 hours before I had my baby. It’s funny in retrospect because my OBGYN said ‘All my patients come in saying that they were going to go natural but you were my only one this month!’ I never knew she didn’t believe me the whole time,” Muna says.
After she gave birth, Muna realized she could throw her previous fears about motherhood out the window.
“It was unlike anything I had ever done in my life. It was probably the most humbling experience. The body changes so much, but your life changes so much. There’s a very clear before and after… Motherhood is not what I expected because there is no expectation. Everyone’s experience is different. I’m glad for me that it was an intentional route as much as possible, because you can’t have control over everything,” says Muna.
What is a fear or expectation you had about giving birth or motherhood in general?
Listen to episode 31 for more details on Muna’s journey into motherhood.
With season 2 of Three Righteous Mamas approaching, now is the perfect time to catch up on previous episodes!
Motherhood is not always heavens parting and angels singing, although we sometimes prefer to appreciate only the positive moments. There are a lot of challenges that come along with being a mom and all of the personal changes it brings.
In episode 31, Muna, Cristina, and Martha talked about their own experiences becoming mothers, and they left no good, bad, or ugly stone unturned. Listen now and let us know if you can relate to the many difficult and magical parts of meeting your new little human for the first time.
Last week’s episode was choc-full of all of the funny misconceptions and downright awful stereotypes that Muna, Martha, and Cristina have heard over the years... Some are pearl-clutching, cringe-inducing nightmares, while others are endearingly innocent. However, they all remind us the importance of not judging books (or people) by their covers.
So with that, please don’t mistake Cristina’s self described “upper-Arlington, Ohio-suburban-white-girl-accent” as anything other than that😅
And this might be an accidental shameless plug for Subaru, because Martha Pincoffs has had three and who wouldn’t want to be as awesome as Martha? 🚘
Finally, this is a PSA: Please stop asking Muna if she showers with her scarf on 😂
Is there something crazy ridiculous that someone has said or thought about you? How did you handle it?
"You have to understand my mom is like my hero. There's no one I love, respect, admire, look up to more than my mama," says Cristina.
Cristina's pride in her Mexican identity is greatly influenced by her mother, Ana Tzintzun. Without Ana, there would be no Cristina ❤️
What kind of influence has your own mama had on who you are today?
We're so thankful for leaders like Aimee Allison, founder and president of SheThePeople for leading with her heart. She truly recognizes the full value and potential of a multiracial democracy... a democracy for ALL of us.
It was an absolute joy having Aimee on to talk about building a better world for the future, and how the next generation of young women of color give her hope for what's to come. Listen to episode 21 here if you have not done so already: https://apple.co/3eNP0nt.
What did you love most about our conversation with Aimee? What qualities and skills do you recognize in younger generations that inspire you? 🌟
There is so much more to the problems in our society than meets the eye, and a big part of that starts with what we are putting in our mouths. How often do we really think about the food we consume?
We loved talking to UT Austin's The LBJ School of Public Affairs' Professor, Raj Patel about the inherent link between our food systems and the social movements often rooted in public health disparities. Have you listened to episode 20 yet?
Listen to the whole thing here: https://apple.co/30iUDI6 and let us know about your biggest takeaways 🍽
How did last week's catastrophe in Texas happen in the state that produces more energy than any other state in the country?
Muna, Cristina, and Martha discuss the answer to this question in episode 19. The mamas share their own experiences during last week's state-wide blackout, and the tragic outcome of millions suffering for almost a week with no heat or water.
Texans, how are y'all doing? What do you think needs to change moving forward so that we can make sure this never happens again? Listen to all of episode 19 here: https://Apple.co/3sESg8a and let us know what you think.
Three Righteous Mamas: Episode 16, Saul Griffith
Episode 15: Wendy Davis on Winning Universal Healthcare
