Shannon Watts | Woman of the year 2022

She occupies a prominent place in social networks. When Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election thanks to the support and large donations of gun industry lobbyists, Watts, who had previously used her Twitter feed as a place to politely discuss political issues, ditched the decorum and began amassing thousands of followers. Her public voice has become bolder and less apologetic: “@realDonaldTrump didn’t tweet about #SandyHook or #Aleppo anniversary, but tweets when Vanity Fair criticizes Trump Grill,” she quipped. observed in 2016. Lately, she’s been using Twitter to highlight incidents of “everyday gun violence,” reminding her followers that, for example, homicide is one of the leading causes of death for pregnant women, or that laws prohibit gun bans in recreation centers. After the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FloridaIn 2018, students across the country took to legislatures and the streets to reject the banality of thoughts and prayers. Moms Demand Action volunteers helped out on the sidelines, using their expertise in obtaining rally permits and starting their own youth wing, Students Demand Action, which registered more than 100,000 voters during the 2020 election cycle. A wave of state gun safety laws passed in the months that followed, and the 2018 midterms later that year became a referendum on preventing gun violence for many.

Watts has a deadline MOMentumthat she came up with in her book Fight like a mother to describe the hidden strength of their base: women make up the majority of the voting population and can exert powerful influence when they unite for common interests, such as the safety of their children. They make 80% of the family’s spending decisions and can put serious financial pressure on companies. Especially in the early days of Moms Demand, when the backlash from federal legislation stalled, the organization focused on encouraging companies like Starbucks and Target to ban guns from their businesses. They also reached out to state legislatures and helped pass an assault weapons ban in Maryland in their first year.

“Men are afraid of their moms,” Watts tells me. “Eighty percent of legislators in this country are men, mostly white. Therefore, women do not create the policies and laws that protect our families and our communities. But we come to the table with certain levers of power, and the nickname “Mom” is one of them.

To enact politics in the context of motherhood is a duty of nonviolence as well as a statement of commitment to a cause. “Once you have a baby, you become a multitasking maniac,” says Watts. “And, you know, your kid runs a fever in the middle of the night and it’s exhausting and you’re over it — you’re not leaving. I think democracy is about the same. You have to stay in the fight and stick with it until this kid gets better.”

Now the child is not better. May 24, 2022 gunman at Rob Elementary School in Uwald, Texas, 19 children and two teachers were killed in what was supposed to be their last week of school. Two weeks before that, 10 people died at Tops grocery store in Buffalo to supporters of white supremacy. In 2022, more than 500 shootings involving four or more people were reported in the United States.