Mothers Out Front!

The Original Mother's Day Proclamation of 1870:

Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts, whether our baptism be that of water or of fears!

Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.

We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own. It says "Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."

Blood does not wipe our dishonor nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.

Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.

-- Julia Ward Howe

Most of us should certainly appreciate the sacrifice and efforts our mothers made to raise us. Motherhood is the most essential and unrecognized work there is and it's good that we have one day set aside to show appreciation. Mothers' Day however, was not founded on the idea of buying cards and flowers for our mothers. In fact, it was started by mothers in 1870, as our nation was still mourning the losses of the civil war, and was called Mother's Peace Day. This was an anti-war action by mothers who demanded an end to the sacrifice of sons and husbands to the maw of needless war. Like many such holidays born of political movements and demands, Mothers' Day has been commercialized and stripped of its original meaning. Though flowers and well-earned sentiment mark this holiday, mothers are still at it, continuing to care for us, to fight for our welfare and our future. One such effort is an activist group called Mothers Out Front. Kim Williams of the local Catholic Worker is a member of this group who was in the news last year in the effort to stop the dangerous gas transmission pipeline which threatens our community. She was shown sitting atop a digging machine with a banner against the project. She was kind enough to agree to an interview to tell us about it.

What is Mothers Out Front, how and when did it come together and what is it about?

Mothers Out Front is a movement of mothers, grandmothers and others who are caretakers of children. Our mission is to build our power to ensure a livable climate for all children. We are a member-led movement, helping each other to realize our individual and collective power through trainings, networking, and developing campaigns. We value inclusiveness, and the moral voice of mothers so that the lives of all children will be put front and center to influence the decision makers that we elect. We also value climate justice, and focus resources to build power in those communities who suffer the injustices of climate change and fossil fuel use today and who have been historically marginalized. Mothers Out Front started in 2013 with two moms in Massachusetts who realized they shared a deep despair over scientific projections of a dismal climate future if we don’t begin to rapidly reduce our global dependence on fossil fuels. They started with House Parties, talking about climate change and ways to build people power. Teams formed and spread across MA, and then into NY state. Thanks to a suggestion of a local chapter of Virginia Organizing, a grassroots organization building people power around concerns for sea level rise in Hampton Roads, MOF moved to this area in 2016.

How and why did you got involved in this effort?

I was invited by Virginia Organizing friends to attend the very first MOF House Party in Norfolk. I went to that party mainly to be supportive of the friends holding it. I told myself I was too busy to get involved, and that climate change was still far off and far away. Plus, I recycle and compost to do my bit for the earth, right? However, at that meeting a young woman asked me “so how has your life been impacted by sea level rise in Hampton Roads?” That question in that setting caused a light bulb go off in my mind. I realized my family had damaged 3 automobiles in recent years, driving in floods that occurred in rapidly developing ordinary (ie, non-hurricane, non-nor'easter) storms. I was so busy getting cars fixed or replaced, plus taking care of job and family responsibilities requiring the incapacitated cars, that I never took the time to connect the dots...that the floods we experience more and more frequently today in Hampton Roads happen because of melting polar ice caps and increasing temperatures due to rising greenhouse gases, which cause bigger, more intense storms! I started to feel “Katrina” breathing down my neck. I began to realize, that as a “sandwich generation” person, with my kids and non-driving elders dependent upon me, I'd better face the fact that climate change is right here, right now!

Mothers Out Front has given me a way to do something about this problem. Enough people have gotten interested that we now have at least 4 teams in VA, and nationally we are now in about 14 states. It won’t be too long until we are in all 50. In Hampton Roads we have helped shine the spotlight on new pipeline infrastructure that will carry gas from fracking fields in West Virginia. The local pipeline is under construction in neighborhoods that have been historically marginalized. We have tried to spotlight that injustice, plus build awareness that the fossil fuel monopolies that we pay bills to every month give big bucks to candidates and elected officials at every government level. This makes it very hard for the decision makers to put our children first. They won’t put transitioning our energy grid to clean energy first unless we make them. We have to organize together to help them understand that the time is now to de-carbonize and to stop fracking. On the hyper-local scale, we have an ongoing energy efficiency campaign. We can bring a one-hour workshop to interested civic groups or houses of worship sharing tips and supplies for DIY home energy efficiency improvements.

How can others get involved or support this work?

I would encourage everybody to get involved. We are the last generation that can do anything about the rising global average temperature caused by that blanket of greenhouse gases holding in the heat. Global food supply is already affected by this – Nebraska cornfields were devastated last month by floods. The migrant caravans are walking to our border to some extent, because of climate change impacts on growing food in Central America. Our children are sent to kill and be killed in wars begin because of climate change impacts on agriculture and water supplies. Our own citizens on the west coast are internally displaced by fires. And the water is rising around our feet, right here, right now. The situation is urgent, but we can do something about this! To inspire in this effort, MOF Team Norfolk will host a free screening of “Paris to Pittsburgh” on Saturday, June 1, 10 am at Naro Cinema. The movie details how people-power groups across the country are organizing to deal with this huge problem. Join us for conversation on how we can be part of the solution. There is a role for each one of us!